Viridescent
by darkfire1220
Summary: As a child, Izuku decided it would be better if he were Quirkless than to have a power that scared everyone. Now a teenager and looking to enter U.A, he finds himself as the protege of All Might and a student of the best heroes in the nation- but there's no running from a part of you, and he's learning the hard way that you have to accept all of yourself to be a real hero.
1. Ignite

_Chapter One: Ignite_

Izuku Midoriya sighed as he made his way back home, feeling rather depressed despite just meeting his childhood hero. Encountering All Might had been total dumb luck on his part, (not to mention the man saved him from a villain) and yet the conversation that arose from that encounter was disheartening to say the least.

All Might had told him that if he was Quirkless, it just wasn't possible for him to be a hero.

Izuku turned his gaze towards the darkening sky, reflecting on the revelations All Might had given him. He was still shell-shocked that the greatest hero was crippled, not unlike Izuku himself in a way. He knew full well what it was like to have to deal with a weak body and Izuku respected All Might even more for continuing to do hero work despite his disability.

But it still stung when All Might told him that he couldn't become a hero without a Quirk.

He closed his eyes, forcing the frustration he felt down. That was fine. Izuku had planned for this if and when it ever came to pass. He was a smart kid- he made good grades and even if he couldn't become a hero, that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't be involved with them in some way. He could look into the Support Class of U.A if he was admitted despite his Quirkless state. Yes, that was a possibility. Not to mention Katsuki would be _pissed_ if he didn't make it into U.A with him.

His lips quirked up in a small smile at the thought of his friend. Katsuki was rough around the edges and well…okay, he was actually a complete asshole, but they'd known each other since they were three and he was the only friend Izuku had. The guy was honestly like an angry mother hen, if angry mother hens could make big explosions and screamed at everyone for annoying them.

Suddenly, an uproar from a nearby street grabbed his attention. He blinked and approached the crowd, trying to figure out what was going on. He spotted several heroes keeping the crowd back, away from a huge fire and a writhing mass that looked disturbingly similar to-

Izuku stared in horrified disbelief. It was the Sludge villain that had tried to possess his body earlier! The one All Might had captured!

 _He must have escaped somehow when I was nagging All Might,_ Izuku realized. Guilt swelled up in him until he almost felt sick. _This is my fault!_

"Everyone stay back!" That was Kamui Woods, shouting at the crowd. "The villain has taken a hostage! Please back away and remain calm!"

That must've been why the heroes weren't fighting the villain, Izuku realized as he worked his way to the front of the crowd to see better. From what he could see, none of the heroes had a Quirk that would work well against this particular villain. Some were doing their best to put out the flames raging in the street, but they couldn't approach the villain himself. He found himself silently praying that All Might was nearby and would do something about this-

The villain suddenly turned so that Izuku had clear line of sight to the hostage's face. It was Katsuki. His eyes were wide in terror.

Before he even realized what he was doing, Izuku bolted past the heroes and straight towards the villain.

"Wha- HEY!" Kamui Woods roared after him. "Get back here! Are you insane?!"

Izuku ignored him. He had the Sludge villain's attention now, and he certainly recognized Izuku from before if the flash of anger in his shifty eyes said anything. The villain forced Katsuki's body to move, causing several of the boy's explosions to burst out in Izuku's general direction. They missed him, but the blasts destroyed a car and made the fire around them rage further out of control.

He hurled his backpack at the villain, smacking the villain in the eye and causing him to recoil briefly in annoyance. Izuku started to scrabble desperately at the sludge imprisoning Katsuki, trying to free him with everything he had.

"Deku!" Katsuki managed to gasp out, glaring in bewildered fury at his classmate. "Beat it! What are you doing here?!"

"I came to save you!" Izuku screamed.

"Get lost!" Katsuki roared back. "You'll get yourself killed!"

"You little brat!" The villain snarled, forming a huge fist of sludge to pulverize him with. To make matters worse, the villain had gathered up bits of sharp metal from nearby debris. If that hit Izuku head on, it would make a mess of his already frail body. "Die already!"

In the crowd behind them, All Might lunged forward in his muscle form. He couldn't ignore what Izuku had just said. He was already kicking himself for letting the villain escape and now this boy- this _Quirkless_ boy- had taken it upon himself to act when no one else- including himself- had done a thing. He felt so ashamed of himself that his deteriorating condition flew to the back of his mind so that he could save the two boys before him.

But he wasn't going to make it! All Might reached out desperately as the villain's fist came down on Izuku.

Izuku stared at the incoming blow with terrified eyes, but greater than his fear was the desperation he felt to save Katsuki. He felt it all bubble up inside of him as his friend's eyes rolled into the back of his head from unconsciousness, pushing him over the edge. _"Let him go!"_

There was a blinding flash of emerald light, momentarily stunning All Might in his rush, but when his eyes recovered they widened in shock. _That's…!_

Wild, emerald fire blazed around Izuku's body, wrapping around him in a protective shield and causing two locks of hair on his head to rise up like flowing horns. The flames surrounding them intensified and flared, causing the villain to flinch away from the boy.

 _"_ _What?!"_ The villain screeched. "Why do you have _that?!_ You monster!"

Izuku looked up at him, desperate anger in his eyes. He brought his right hand back, drawing in the fire around them and changing it into more emerald flames. With an almost feral cry, he thrust his hand forward and sent a torrent of flame at the villain.

The surge of green fire smote the villain and tore him from Katsuki's body, setting the sludge alight until it was boiling from the heat. He screamed in agony as Katsuki collapsed, now free of his captor, but exposed to the fire as well.

All Might acted in that instant, creating a blast of air with a single, overwhelming blow towards the ground. "Detroit Smash!"

The explosion of air pressure blew all the flames away and though it knocked Izuku off his feet, it managed to save Katsuki (and to a lesser extent the Sludge villain) from being burned to death. All Might blinked as the emerald fire around the boy vanished instantly and what few flames remained around them fizzled out.

His experienced eyes surveyed the aftermath of the boy's unexpected attack. Thankfully, the majority of the blaze had been concentrated on the villain and had left everything else relatively unscathed, allowing All Might to wonder about Izuku for a moment. He approached the boy and knelt to inspect him, but he was obviously unconscious.

 _Can I become a hero even though I don't have a Quirk? I want to be able to save people with a smile on my face, just like you do!_

All Might's eyes narrowed, perplexed. _That's what he said, but those flames were definitely his doing. Was he just lying?_

He dismissed that thought almost as soon as it came to mind. _No…he wasn't lying. There's no faking that kind of honest desperation._

The kid was an enigma, a curious one at that. All Might found himself legitimately interested in what was going on with the boy.

* * *

Izuku was quiet on his way back to the apartment. Following a quick medical checkup to make sure he was alright and a brief chewing out from some of the heroes, he was dismissed and allowed to go home. None of that really bothered him since Katsuki had ended up being alright as well— that was obvious enough when the boy yelled at Izuku for being stupid and jumping into a dangerous situation without a Quirk.

Or rather, jumping into danger without a Quirk that he could _use_.

He tilted his head back so he was looking at the sky with a despondent expression. "I did it again…"

"I AM HERE!"

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as All Might came racing from out of nowhere and ended up standing on the street in front of him. "A-All Might?! What are you doing here?!"

"Just wanted to chat- HACK!" All Might spat up blood as he reverted from his muscle form into his skinny true form. He wiped the blood from his chin and looked at Izuku with a raised eyebrow. "What's up with the long face?"

"Ah- oh, it's nothing," Izuku said a little too quickly, waving his hands back and forth.

"I see," the man grunted. He studied Izuku for a moment. "That was some Quirk back there."

The grip Izuku had on his backpack strap tightened. "I guess…"

"You told me earlier that you were Quirkless," All Might went on, his eyes boring into the nervous child. "Why tell me that if you had a Quirk?"

"It was a-a mistake," Izuku replied, looking away from him. "I didn't mean to flare up, I…I don't ever want to use that Quirk. It scares people…"

All Might had a hunch about what was going on here. The more he looked at this kid, the more he felt like he was looking at someone else. Someone he'd encountered back in his prime over a decade ago. Plus the way his flames had looked back there…the way they coiled around the boy's body and formed those fiery horns on his head…

"You're Heat Viper's kid," All Might said at last. The way the boy's face grew pale and his fists clenched was answer enough for the hero.

"He's _not_ my dad!" Izuku answered vehemently, surprising All Might with his intensity. The boy was starting to sweat and he looked like he was on the verge of having a panic attack. "That guy isn't my dad! Yeah, he's my parent, but he's not my dad! I don't even know him! I'm nothing like him! I-"

 _"_ _Breathe,"_ All Might stepped forward and interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder. Izuku almost flinched away, but All Might's grasp was firm. It kept him steady. The hero's voice lowered to a gentle tone. "I don't think you're like him, either."

Izuku choked, his body going boneless from those words and fell forward. All Might kind of expected that, so he held the boy up and just let him cry for a moment. The hero quietly sighed now that his suspicions were confirmed.

 _His Quirk is so similar to Viper's that I actually stopped in my tracks back there,_ All Might thought to himself. _And I'm a pro. If any normal person saw that and knew who Viper was…sheesh, no wonder the kid said he's Quirkless. He probably tells everyone that so they don't freak out._

"Are you gonna be okay?"

Izuku sniffed and stepped back, pulling out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his eyes and nose. "Y-yeah. Sorry. I'm just stressed…I haven't used that Quirk since I was seven, so I'm a bit overwhelmed…"

All Might hacked up more blood in disbelief. "Seven?! Wait, how old are you again?!"

"Fourteen."

"…you haven't used your Quirk in _seven_ _years?"_ All Might was stunned.

The boy nodded meekly. "I…I accidentally flared up in the second grade once and my teacher had an actual heart attack just from seeing it. Her husband was a…victim…"

All Might's eyes cleared in understanding. "And you found out about Viper right after that?"

"Mmhm. I didn't want to hurt or scare anyone because of that Quirk again, so…I just never used it again. I-I thought if I worked hard enough on my own, I could become a hero without a Quirk, but…I guess I can't. I'm still gonna shoot for the Support Class in U.A though. I think I can do that."

All Might was silent for a long while as he studied the boy's face. Izuku looked tired and scared, but there was a fiery determination in his eyes that reminded him of…well, himself.

A boy with no Quirk (well, sort of) that had the drive to become a hero through his own effort so he could help people. The way he'd moved to save his friend from the Sludge villain had amazed All Might. He hadn't moved from willpower or any mental drive. He'd just moved instinctively. Without thinking. Without hesitating. When even All Might had stopped and hoped that another hero might come by.

Well, he'd be damned if he just sat back and watched this kid jump into the Support Class in U.A. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but this boy _needed_ to become a hero.

"Izuku," All Might said suddenly. "You can become a hero."

Izuku froze and stared at him, wide-eyed. "Huh? But you said-"

"I was mistaken," he interrupted. "Back there, despite having no Quirk to fight with, you jumped in to save your friend when no one else would. Myself included. You were more heroic than anyone else in that moment. I say it again. You can become a hero."

The boy looked torn between shock and joy, but they were quickly overwhelmed by uncertainty. "But…I don't have a Quirk I can use…"

"I have a solution to that," All Might told him. "But I offer it to you on one strict condition; I want you to learn how to use your Quirk."

Izuku sucked in a sharp breath. "No—"

"Let me finish, dammit," the hero chuckled. He pat the boy's shoulder. "I want you to learn how to use it for your own good. You flared up today because you don't have any control over it. That's not something you want happening in a dire situation. As a hero, you absolutely cannot risk losing control of a Quirk as powerful as that. Do you understand?"

Izuku was quiet as he looked towards his feet. All Might went on. "I'm not saying this to give you a hard time. I'm saying this because you need to hear it. That power might remind people of Viper, but it's your power. You don't have to use it in public if you really don't want to, but I want you to learn how, anyways. There are people who fear that fire, but there are also people who probably need it."

"Need it?" Izuku asked, disbelieving. "Who would need a Quirk like this?"

"Who knows? Perhaps someone who is cold or in need of a light," All Might laughed again. "I certainly can't flare up to warm someone or make a dark room brighter with my Quirk. Start out with little things like that if you need to. But my point is, I want to see you make that power into something that people find comforting."

The boy swallowed hard. "But what if it scares people?"

"It will scare some," the hero said. "I will admit that at first, your Quirk will probably bring up some bad memories from older folks. But power is neither good nor bad, just how its wielder makes it so. If I were a villain, Super Strength Quirks would probably be feared all over the world."

All Might looked into Izuku's eyes steadily. "It's up to you to make your power into something that people seek out instead of something they run from. But to do that, you have to stop running from your power first."

"Which brings me back to my main point," All Might jabbed a finger towards Izuku. "I've deemed you worthy of inheriting my power."

"Huh?"

"I'm talking about my Quirk. Listen up and listen close, kiddo," All Might spread his arms out to either side of him in a grand gesture. "My Quirk was passed on to me like a sacred torch that is given from bearer to the next!"

"HUH?!"

"You heard me. And I've tagged you as my inheritor."

"W-w-w-w-wait, wh-what?!" Izuku yelped, going into full-on stutter mode. He began to mutter furiously to himself as he processed that. "It's true that your Quirk is hotly debated by everyone and no one really knows what it is, but I've never heard of such a thing and it's not even among the craziest theories I've seen and I've seen some really crazy theories but there's never been a record of a Quirk that could do that since everyone has their own inborn traits that make up their quirk and lets them establish themselves and that's why they're considered unique so a Quirk that could be passed on to others could never happen because-"

"Holy shit, hit the brakes there, motor mouth," All Might snapped, cutting Izuku off. "I keep a lot of things to myself, but I don't lie. The power I was granted was the Quirk that transfers power— it's called One for All. One person cultivates the power then passes it on to another, who then cultivates it further and passes it on yet again. As time goes on and it builds, that strength grows and allows those inheritors to save people. I've been searching for a successor for ages, ever since I was wounded so badly. You're the first person I've ever thought I'd be okay with passing this power on to."

Izuku was honestly still trying to process everything, but he felt beyond honored that All Might considered him- him of all people- worthy of such an amazing gift. But he still had doubts. "But…is that okay? I…I have that Quirk…"

"It doesn't matter to me," All Might told him gently. "If you want to just rely on One for All and put your own Quirk to the side, that's up to you, but I still want you to learn to use it for the reasons I stated earlier. Or you can use both One for All and your Quirk together. Actually, I would've offered this to you even if you were truly Quirkless. This has nothing to do with whether or not you have a Quirk, kiddo. This is because I can see you becoming a great hero."

The hero laughed as Izuku lifted his hand to wipe his eyes again. "Of course, it's up to you! If you trained enough, you could become a hero with just your Quirk or you could join the Support Class at U.A."

Izuku shook his head. As if there was a choice here.

He cleared his face of tears and gave All Might the strongest look he could. "I'll do it!"

All Might grinned. "An answer without hesitation. I figured as much. All right, kid. Then I hope you're ready for the road ahead, because I won't go easy on you!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

 **A/N: Welp, I've wanted to do a fic for this series for a long time, but haven't had any ideas for it until recently! I'm currently struggling with writer's block for several of my stories at the moment, so my solution is to just keep writing by making yet another story! Ehehe...but in all seriousness, this is a series I'd really like to make a long fic for, so please tell me your thoughts on it! This chapter is kind of vague since it's literally a rough draft, but next chapter will have more information about Izuku's Quirk! It'll probably be up sooner than later since I'm in the mood to write this fic right now. Anyway, please review and thanks for reading!**


	2. The Entrance Exam

_Chapter Two: The Entrance Exam_

"Whew…I made it…" Izuku stopped to catch his breath as he stared at the huge U.A buildings at the front of the campus.

It had been ten months since Izuku had agreed to become All Might's successor and in that time, he'd put his body through absolute hell. All Might had made him train like a maniac, pushing his body to its very limits and beyond. He'd explained that Izuku's body back then was too weak to inherit One for All right off the bat, so he had to build himself up to handle the extraordinary power.

He'd definitely bulked up a fair bit, although Izuku still looked like a skinny kid at first glance. The now fifteen year old's physique didn't compare to All Might's one bit, but that was fine for now. He had made it to the starting line and that was all that mattered.

Izuku quietly groaned. His sore muscles were aching from the strain he'd put them under this morning to finish clearing all that trash from the beach. Thinking back on it, he lifted one of his hands to cover his mouth.

 _"_ _Eat this!" All Might had ordered with that big grin on his face as he held up one of his own blonde hairs to Izuku._

 _"_ _Huh?" The boy just stared at him with a dumbfounded expression._

 _All Might laughed uproariously. "It doesn't matter what it is as long as you take in my DNA!"_

 _"_ _It's way too different from what I imagined!" Izuku yelped as All Might practically shoved the hair into his mouth._

 _"_ _Enough of that, bottoms up kiddo!"_

 _Despite Izuku's feeble protests, he did eat the hair. It was about as pleasant an experience as you could imagine it would be. The way it just dragged down his throat was just…gross._

 _"_ _Good, now don't throw that up," All Might chuckled._

 _"_ _I don't feel any different, though…"_

 _"_ _Of course not, how do you think your stomach works? It'll take a little time for you to digest the hair, but you'll probably feel something by the time the exam starts."_

 _Izuku shuddered and went to go grab the shirt he'd set aside earlier. "Got it…I gotta get home and take a shower and eat before the exam in a few hours…"_

 _All Might turned his gaze towards the ocean, the view now completely void of any obstruction. "We turned you into a vessel that can house One for All, but it was made in a hurry. You didn't even get to take it on a test run. Prepare yourself for the repercussions that it will have on your body."_

 _Izuku glanced over his shoulder at the hero. "What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _You'll see," All Might replied. "In any case, focus on using One for All today. With all the time we spent building up your body to house it, we didn't get to actually work on your original Quirk at all. Ideally, that's what I'd recommend you use for this exam."_

 _"_ _I'm not sure if I can use it in front of people yet…" Izuku mumbled nervously._

 _"_ _I know, so like I said, focus on using One for All today," All Might pat the boy's shoulder with one of his huge hands. "We'll get you comfortable with your Quirk now that you've got One for All as well. It'll just take time. Focus on the exam for now, young man."_

 _"_ _Yes, sir."_

"Huh? Deku?"

Izuku jumped, torn from his thoughts by the familiar voice. He turned and spotted Katsuki walking towards him. "Oh, Katsuki. Hey!"

Katsuki looked a little baffled in an irritated sort of way. "What are you doing here? I thought you were gonna take the Support Course test."

"Oh, well…" Izuku scratched the back of his head as the other teen reached him. "I-I decided to try for the Hero Course."

"You serious?" Katsuki tilted his head. "Dude, you haven't used your Quirk since like the second grade. Do you even remember how?"

"I-I think it'll be okay!" They were walking towards the entrance together now. "I just…I want to try at least."

"Don't tell me you're still scared of people freaking out about it?" Katsuki scoffed in annoyance. "You can't pussy out just because everyone else is terrified of your badass Quirk. It still ain't as awesome as mine, though."

Izuku sweat-dropped. _I'm pretty sure the whole reason he ended up being friends with me is because he wanted to prove that he was better than everyone who was scared of my Quirk…_

 _"_ _What, y'all can't handle a little green fire? What a bunch of pussies! Go drown yourselves to death, then!"_

He smiled slightly at the memory. Katsuki was abrasive and frankly a total ass to pretty much everyone, (including Izuku to a certain extent) but he was a bit more friendly around Izuku. Part of that was because they ended up in a video game club together at middle school and were the best players there. Heck, they'd even won a video game tournament held between all the schools in the region. He was kind of like Katsuki's sidekick in a way, so the other teen was _slightly_ more tolerant and less abrasive towards him. Just slightly.

"You're getting into U.A, right?" Katsuki demanded, giving him a sideways glare.

Izuku nodded. "Even if I don't pass the Hero Examination Test, I'll take the Support Class Test. I can definitely get into that one."

"No shit. You've got a fuckin' library in that goddamn head of yours," Katsuki rapped his knuckles against the timid boy's forehead. "And you take way too many notes. Just get in, got it? It'll piss me off if you fail."

"I got it," Izuku promised.

Aaaaand now he was tripping on his shoelaces.

 _Or I'll just die,_ he thought as he waited for the inevitable impact.

Except he didn't hit the ground and just remained suspended in midair. Katsuku gave him a weird look as Izuku yelped and squirmed in the air, but didn't fall.

"Are you all right?"

The boys looked up to find a teenage girl standing there with her hand on Izuku's backpack. She had shoulder-length brown hair, big brown eyes, and rosy red cheeks. Carefully, she helped to right Izuku so he was back on his feet before she clapped her hands together and smiled. "Sorry I used my Quirk without asking, but I figured it would've been bad luck if you tripped, y'know? Did nerves get to you? I'm kinda nervous too. Good luck!"

Before either Izuku or Katsuki could say a word, she was walking off. Katsuki just stared after her with a face like he couldn't decide whether to be annoyed or not. "The fuck?"

A huge smile spread over Izuku's face and his eyes practically sparkled. "I just talked to a girl!"

"You didn't say a damn thing, you dumbass!" Katsuki snapped at him. "And wipe that weird look on your face! It's creepy as fuck!"

* * *

Once they were in the auditorium, the lights hit the stage and they were greeted by a Pro Hero named Present Mic. The man had a wild haircut, spiffy glasses, and a big speaker fixture wrapped around his neck. He also apparently had never heard the phrase "keep it down" because he was being obnoxiously loud.

"Welcome everyone to my live show!" He shouted into the mic and jabbed his fingers out to either side of him at the crowd. "Everybody say HEY!"

He put a hand to his ear, but all he got was silence.

"Tough crowd!" Mic laughed. "Whatever! I'm gonna give you the run-down on how this exam is gonna go! ARE YOU READY?!"

More silence was his answer, though Izuku was muttering to himself out of habit. "Holy crap, it's really him! I listen to his talk show on the radio every week! The lecturers at U.A really are all Pro Heroes!"

"Shut up," Katsuki growled beside him.

"Pay attention, listeners!" Mic shouted. "We'll be seeing if you got skills to pay the bills in a ten minute practice run at our replica-city district! You can take whatever equipment you want, just gather at your designated meeting area after my presentation, ya dig?!"

Katsuki looked from the card he had for his test to the one Izuku had, noting that they were in different districts. "It's set up so that we can't work together with people we know, huh?"

"That makes sense," Izuku muttered. "It'd be too unfair if some people had others helping them out to stock up on points."

"That's fine, though," Katsuki dismissed. "If you got stuck in my exam, I'd end up taking all the points for myself, anyways."

Izuku wasn't at all insulted by his friend's greed for points. That _was_ kind of the objective here, after all.

Mic was talking again. "There'll be loads of faux-villains spread all over the battlefields and each one will be rated as a One, Two, or Three pointer! Your job is to use your Quirk to take out as many of them as you can and rack up a high score! Also, you can't attack other competitors directly! That's nasty anti-hero stuff and it's against the rules, ya dig?!"

"Excuse me!"

All eyes were suddenly drawn to a student in the stands- a young man wearing glasses who bore a very stern expression on his face. "On the handout, there are clearly four types of villains listed! If this is an error, then it's a huge embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of U.A's caliber! What is the meaning of this?"

"Also, you!" The other teen suddenly twisted to glare at Izuku, who jumped in surprise and fright. "Quit muttering to yourself! We're trying to pay attention! If you think U.A is just for fun, then leave this place at once!"

Izuku practically melted into his seat from embarrassment, covering up his face as most of the other students started to chuckle at him, but he was saved from complete humiliation by Katsuki. The teen snarled and stood up, placing his foot on the railing as he yelled at the guy who had called Izuku out. "The hell did you say?! I'll kick your ass!"

The other boy recoiled from Katsuki's rage as he swept his glare over the rest of the kids in the room who were still laughing. He held up one hand threateningly and let a few small explosions pop off in his palm. "Anyone else wanna talk shit?! Shut up and mind your own business, extras!"

Most of the kids did as he said, though a few looked ready to pick a fight with Katsuki. Present Mic broke it up before things could get ugly. "Woohoo! Save that aggression for the test, kiddos! I can't say I don't like it though!"

"Thanks, Katsuki," Izuku barely managed to get out as he peeked between the gaps of his fingers.

Katsuki sat down and crossed his arms with a huff, still glaring in annoyance at the kid who had started the whole thing. "Nobody gets to mess with you but me."

Mic pointed at the teen with the glasses. "You make a good point young man, so let me explain! The fourth type of villain is called the Zero Pointer! It's a big gimmick that goes wild in tight places, ya dig? If I were you, I'd do my best to avoid that sucker!"

"I see! Forgive my interruption!" The teen made a huge bow and sat back down.

"Welp, that's enough from me!" Mic went on. "I'll leave you with a quote that my academy prides itself on! Go beyond! Plus Ultra! Now get out there and have a great time suffering this trial!"

* * *

 _Holy crap, it's huge!_

Izuku gaped at the massive duplicate city laid out before them. Jeez, the place could've been its own town! He knew that U.A was top of the line and was notorious for going to extremes to train heroes, but this was more than he'd expected.

Glancing around at some of the other students, Izuku noticed that some of them had equipment to match their individual Quirks. He kind of wished he had something like that. _Not that it matters. I don't think I can use my flames here and I've never used One for All before…I'm not sure what kind of equipment would work best with it._

His eyes suddenly found a familiar figure- the girl who had kept him from falling when they first arrived. _Oh, that girl from before! Maybe I should go say hello…I need to thank her for earlier, anyways!_

"You, stop right there."

Izuku went stiff as a board at the sound of that awfully familiar voice- uptight and stern. Oh great.

"That girl is trying to concentrate. Don't go over there and interrupt her," the glasses-wearing teen who had called him out walked over and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. There was a warning look in his eyes. "Who are you, anyways? Are you here to obstruct us during the exam?"

He jumped. "N-no! O-of course n-not!"

Several of the other kids started laughing as they watched, commenting on his jumpiness and the nerves Izuku was obviously dealing with. He hung his head in embarrassment. _They think they're lucky to have me as an opponent…_

"START!"

Everyone stopped and turned towards Present Mic, who was standing on an observation tower. They all looked confused, but the Pro laughed and yelled again. "What are you waiting for?! There ain't a countdown in a real battle, you greenhorns! Get those legs moving!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, then he realized that everyone else was already running into the district. "Oh, crap!"

He blitzed after them, desperate to catch up with the rest of the pack. _It's fine! I fell behind a little, but it's fine! I've got All Might's Quirk now…I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!_

A building to his side suddenly exploded, making him skid to a stop. Izuku's eyes widened as a robot emerged and fixed its single eye on him. "One point!"

"Target locked on. Kill!"

The robot lunged at Izuku, who froze in place. _Shit! How do I use One for All?! I still don't feel any different!_

It was too fast and close for him to dodge, so he glanced around rapidly. No one was in sight, so maybe…

He ducked under the robot's swing and grabbed the bot by its thin wire neck, then let his own Quirk flare up. Instantly, he was wreathed in green flames and the heat caused the robot's sensitive circuits to overload and fail. The steel creature collapsed, neck sizzling from the heat.

Izuku immediately stopped the flames and looked around frantically. _Good, no one saw me. Maybe if I sneak up on more of them on my own, I can take a them out until One for All starts working. It should be working soon, right?!_

"SIX MINUTES AND TWO SECONDS LEFT!"

Mic's shout pushed him to run off again. He had only gotten one point in four minutes?! He needed more points fast!

He found an intersection that was crawling with robots, but they were all being taken out by a mass of students. He saw the girl from earlier touch several of them so that they floated up, then with a clap of her hands, they fell and were destroyed. She set her hands on her knees, breathing heavily before she moved on. "That's twenty eight points!"

 _Twenty eight?!_

Izuku jumped as the teen with the glasses came out of nowhere and destroyed another robot's head with a huge kick. "That's forty five points!"

 _Forty five?!_

He started to panic. _They never told us how many villains there were! If I don't get a move on, all of them might be taken and I'll fail!_

He was about to run off to try and find more isolated villains like before, but before he could do anything, the ground began to shake. Izuku flinched and his jaw fell open in terror as a massive robot appeared further down the street, destroying a building in the process. It had a big ZERO on its forehead.

 _Isn't that way too much?!_

He fell to the ground, cowering at the sight of the behemoth robot as it made its way towards them. The other students were already scrambling to get out of its way.

Izuku felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack. _No! I only have one point! I gotta run, but I gotta get points! Why can't I feel One for All yet?! Where is it?! All the work I did with All Might will be wasted if I can't use it!_

"Ow!"

He froze and looked over his shoulder when he heard the cry of pain. Izuku realized that the girl who had helped him before had collapsed and was trapped under some rubble. She looked like she was gonna be sick and couldn't move even with the Zero Pointer coming at them.

She would be crushed.

He was going for the robot before he even realized what he was doing.

Izuku crouched as he charged, feeling a rush of power surge through his body. He jumped up, surging into the air like a rocket towards the Zero Pointer. His fist clenched as he forced that power through his arm, tearing his sleeve with the raw force it gave off.

 _When you use One for All, squeeze your ass super tight and yell this at the top of your lungs!_

"Smaaaaaash!"

Izuku drove his fist into the Zero Pointer, unleashing One for All's devastating force and pulverizing the robot as though it were made of styrofoam. The steel behemoth was lifted off the ground and hurled back with a massive crash, utterly destroyed by the impact.

He hovered in the air for a moment, shocked by the degree of damage he'd done, but like all things under gravity's influence, he started to fall.

"Whoa, _shit!"_ Izuku yelped, flailing to regain his balance. _Crap, I gotta calm down! This is All Might's power, so I should be able to land alright now…_

He was suddenly made aware of his right arm and both legs flopping around at it very unnatural angles. Izuku had time to blink at his ruined limbs before pain like nothing he'd ever felt before sent lightning through his nerves.

He screamed as he fell, clutching his destroyed arm with his left hand. Tears flew from his eyes and he struggled not to vomit.

 _I'm an idiot! This is_ ** _All Might's_** _power! I just barely got to the point that I can keep it in my body without it killing me! I went way overboard with it!_

Izuku glared at the ground through blurry eyes, trying to gauge this distance. The only way he was surviving this fall was if he used One for All with his left arm. His own Quirk wasn't gonna help him here at all.

But if he used One for All again, it would destroy his left arm and he wouldn't be able to move at all. With just one point to his name, Izuku wouldn't be able to pass the exam.

He was just twenty feet off the ground when he decided his life was worth more than the exam and curled back his fist to set One for All loose again. But just as he was about to let it rip, a hand slapped his cheek and gravity ceased to effect him.

Izuku floated slowly to the ground, glancing to the side as he realized the girl who had been trapped had floated up on a piece of debris to save him. As they hovered just over the ground, the now nauseous-looking placed her fingertips against each other and groaned. "…release!"

They hit the ground at a safe distance, at which point the girl began to vomit and Izuku struggled to maintain his composure through the terrible pain in his broken limbs. "Th-thanks…!"

He started to crawl with his left arm, looking around desperately for a robot to attack even in his injured state. "I gotta get…more points…One won't…cut it…"

"TIME'S UP!"

Present Mic's voice rang through his eardrums and once he realized what the Pro had said, despair settled into Izuku's stomach. He let his head fall to the ground and gave up to the darkness taking over his vision, knowing that all his effort had been utterly wasted.

Several of the other examinees walked over, but kept a wary distance from him. They couldn't believe the devastation he'd caused with just one punch. Destroying a robot of the Zero Pointer's size with only one blow was crazy.

"Sheesh, what the hell was that?"

"He sent that huge thing flying with just one shot…"

"But he was so timid before the test started. How the heck does a guy with a Quirk like that end up being such a scaredy cat?"

The teen with the glasses was watching from further away as the school nurse, Recovery Girl, came up to take care of the injured boy. He was frowning deeply. _They're all missing the point. He jumped in to save that girl. Even though he was lacking in points, he acted to protect her from that huge robot. If this hadn't been an exam…of course, I would have done the same thing!…wait a minute. Could…could that have been a part of the test?_

He watched as Recovery Girl used her Quirk to heal Izuku's broken body, thinking hard about the exam. An epiphany struck him as he considered all the factors and realized what he was missing. _I see! If the test is designed like that, then this kid…_

* * *

A week later and Izuku was still a ball of nerves trying to get over the pit in his stomach. He'd recovered from his broken limbs, but his failure at the exam still hurt. Even at dinner, he stared at the fish on his plate for so long that his mother started to freak out a little. He ate a little, but he just didn't have much of an appetite.

As he sat on the couch that evening, curling a dumbbell in one hand half-consciously. Day after day, he had replayed the test in his head.

 _If I had to guess, I think I did pretty well on the written exam,_ Izuku thought to himself. _But with just a single point on the practical exam, that grade won't matter at all. Even All Might hasn't gotten in touch with me since then…he's probably embarrassed by how badly I screwed up after spending so much of his time to train me. God, I should just give One for All back to him…can I do that?_

"…The results from your test should be in today or tomorrow, right?" Izuku's mother, Inko, tried to start a conversation with him. She was as nervous as he was.

"I guess," he mumbled.

"Even if you don't pass, I still think it's amazing that you tried! A lot of people wouldn't have had the courage to do that, you know?"

"Yeah," Izuku sighed. He hadn't told his mother about All Might. He'd promised the man, after all, not to say a word about his true identity to anyone.

 _Mom probably thinks I tried to take the exam with my Quirk and flunked because I can't use it. She's not totally wrong, either…_

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to get some of the stress out of his body with a few deep breaths. "I'll just take the Support Course exam next week…"

"I-I-I-Izuku!"

He jumped and spun around as Inko came running into the living room from the front door, holding a single envelope in her hands. The pit in Izuku's stomach turned into a terrible black hole as he saw the U.A stamp on it.

"It's here!" Inko exclaimed, nervousness all over her face. Her son looked absolutely despondent.

Izuku took the envelope and retreated into his room, placing it on his desk. He could hear Inko pacing back and forth outside the door and it did absolutely nothing to help his own nerves. He spent a good fifteen minutes just staring at the envelope before he grabbed it harshly and ripped the thing open. Instead of a letter, a small metal disk clattered onto the desk.

 _"_ _I AM HERE AS A PROJECTION!"_

He yelped as a video of All Might was projected onto the wall behind his desk from the metal disk. Izuku glanced back and forth from the disk to the projection in confusion for a few seconds. "Wh-what the- All Might?! Wait- this-this is from U.A, right? Huh?"

"Sorry kiddo! I had a lot of work to do so I couldn't get in touch with you!" The projection of All Might took a bow. "But it's all good! We'll be seeing more of each other since I'll be starting a teaching job at U.A!"

He looked like he was about to say something else that would drop further bombshells on Izuku's already strained brain, but the hero was distracted by someone out of frame. "What? Speed it up? I've gotta tell him a few things though…it's gonna push everything else back? How many more of these do I have to do again? Jeez, alright I got it!"

All Might cleared his throat and said the words that made every cell in Izuku's body feel like it weighed a ton. "You passed the written exam with flying colors, but you only got a single point on the practical. So of course, you didn't pass…if that were all!"

Izuku blinked in confusion. All Might gestured to a video screen behind him. "Observe, young man!"

A video began to play and Izuku realized that the girl who appeared in it was actually the one who had saved him from falling to death. She looked a little nervous as she approached Present Mic, whom she had called to get his attention. _"Excuse me…I'm sorry to bother you, but there was a boy in my exam with curly hair and lots of freckles, um…he's kind of plain looking, you know?"_

She was talking about him, Izuku realized. _"Would it be possible to share some of my points with him? I heard him say that he'd only gotten a single point or something, so I guess he was struggling to pass…But he got really hurt and probably lost points trying to save me from that villain! Could you please at least give him the points he lost because of me?"_

He swallowed hard. "She didn't have to do that for me…I…"

All Might paused the video and grinned at the screen. "What kind of Hero Course would it be if we turned down people who did the right thing? This ain't some second-rate school you tested for! The exam was not based solely on villain points!"

The video began playing again. Present Mic lifted a hand to pat the girl on the head, grinning in amusement. _"No worries, lil' missy. You can't share points, but you won't have to."_

All Might stepped in front of the screen as the video ended. "Laying your life on the line for other people is a huge part of being a hero. We had a special panel of judges looking for just that thing! You only got one villain point, but you scored _big_ on the rescue points, kid! You got a grand total of sixty one points! And your friend who tried to help you out? Ochako Uraraka scored forty five points!"

He had to be dreaming. There was no way. No _freaking_ way.

All Might's grin got a little softer. "You passed, kid."

The lump in his throat made it impossible for him to say anything. Izuku covered his face with one hand as tremors wracked his body. All Might held a hand out to him on the screen. "Come, young man. This is your hero academia!"

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, chapter two. I apologize for skipping a bit from the first chapter and the training with All Might,** **but it's all pretty much the same as it was in the manga if you were wondering. I also realize that I promised more information about Izuku's original Quirk in this chapter, but I couldn't find a good place for it, so I'll save the details of that for another chapter. It will be addressed early on, though. Remember this story is still very rough and I'm still working on the concept behind it. Please let me know if there's anything in particular that needs to be addressed!**

 **Without further ado, here are the first review responses for chapter one!**

 **Jss2141:** **This will be good to read but I hope Izuku doesn't take One for All. How can he be willing to use someone else's power when he rejects his own?**

 **-Sorry, but Izuku is getting One for All. The reason will be addressed more by All Might later, but the main reason is because All Might sees that Izuku has the potential to be a great hero if he can get over the circumstances surrounding his own Quirk. He knows it's going to be a process and he really wants to see Izuku become a hero, so he's trying to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak: Help Izuku conquer his own fear and train him into a hero that can take his place as the Symbol of Peace. More on that later!**

 **inFamousSlyMonkey: Looking forward to more of this. Be interesting to see the changes in relationships Izuku's Quirk will have. Since they were at school together Katsuki will know about his quirk so there shouldn't be as much animosity. Avoiding use of fire quirks like Todoroki. :)**

 **-Right you are! Katsuki is a bit more tolerant of Izuku here, mostly because of the reasons I gave in the chapter, but we'll get Katsuki's perspective shortly! He's still an ass, if that wasn't obvious lol. Izuku won't be avoiding other fire Quirks, but he's definitely not comfortable with his own at the moment. He's not afraid of other fire Quirk users, though. Not all of them, at least.**

 **Karlos1234ify:** **Well Izuku and Shouto have something in common. They both have scum bags for fathers and fear using their power of fire.**

 **-Eh, yes they're similar (actually they're a lot more similar than I would like at this stage) but I should clear something up here: Shouto isn't scared of his Quirk, he just hates it because he inherited it from his dad. Meanwhile, Izuku barely knows anything about his dad and the only reason he never uses his Quirk is because it scares other people. I'll explain more later in the story, but the point is, their circumstances, while similar to some degree, are very different, as** **will be the way they conquer those circumstances.**

 **Orinatar:** **Wow, I was thinking about looking for some hero academia stories and here you are a few minutes later! What a god send. Great first chapter can't wait to see what you do with this :)**

 **-You're welcome! I've been wanting to see some more fics for this series, so I decided to make one! It's still rough and I haven't even thought about the plot later on (this was literally a spur of the moment sort of idea lol) but I'm hoping it goes well! I really need to pump out some good chapters if I'm going to get over the writer's block for my other stories! Gotta keep the creative juices flowing!**

 **That's all for now! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	3. Quirks, Unleashed!

_Chapter Three: Quirks, Unleashed!_

The staff of U.A were looking over the final scores for the examinees who had been accepted into the school. The scores were all displayed on a huge TV screen, giving them all a chance to assess the top students.

"Damn, that kid took first place without a single rescue point!" One of the teachers whistled. "Katsuki Bakugou, huh? That's one tough kid."

"His Quirk let him pick up the pace as the exam went on," another replied. "He picked off the One and Two pointers early on, then while the other examinees were running from the Zero Pointer, he went wild and stacked up a huge amount of points."

"In contrast…" Another member of the staff pointed at the score profile for Izuku Midoriya. "That kid placed seventh with just one villain point. The only reason he passed at all was because he got a crazy high score on rescue points."

"We've had examinees take on the giant villain in the past, but it's been years since I saw someone blow it to hell like that! I was surprised!"

Present Mic threw a fist in the air. "I couldn't help but shout "YEAAAHHH" when I saw that wicked right! Kid earned his spot here, fair and square!"

"But the injuries he received from the blow back of his Quirk were intense," Recovery Girl mentioned. "It was as though a child had just manifested their Quirk for the first time."

"It's true insofar that he needs a lot of grooming," another hero added. "But if he gets to a point where he can use that power without blowing his body up, he'll definitely become a talented hero. That punch reminded me of All Might!"

In the back of the room, a tired looking man in dark clothes and a silver-gray scarf eyed Izuku's profile disdainfully. _What a ruckus…_

* * *

Izuku ran to the beach as soon as he got a text from All Might. He didn't care if it was the middle of the night, he had to see the guy.

He spotted the lanky figure waiting for him by a small pier and shouted. "All Might!"

The man choked up blood with a stutter. "W-who's that?!"

Izuku suddenly heard people calling towards them. "What? All Might?!"

The hero lowered his voice to a hiss. "Repeat after me! I had the wrong person!"

"Ah-" Izuku waved his hands frantically at the couple standing on the pier not far off. "I had the wrong person!"

They made sounds of disappointment, but All Might's cover was saved, so they both sighed in relief.

All Might held a hand up. "Congrats on passing."

"Th-thanks!" Izuku gave him a nervous high-five.

"For the record, I didn't tell the academy about the work we've done together, got it? I don't want you to think you got in because I told them to let you in. I wasn't one of the judges."

Izuku nodded, smiling gratefully. "I appreciate that. But I was surprised to hear you decided to become a teacher at U.A! Your office is located at Roppongi, Minato Ward in Tokyo-"

"Getting creepy," All Might stopped him with a huff. "Anyways, I told the academy a year ago about my predicament, but that was before I met you. I had plans for them to inform me if they ever found a worthy successor for One for All…"

The boy swallowed. It made sense that All Might would look for a successor from the best hero school in the world. He'd probably intended to pick one of the talents there before he'd met Izuku at all.

"One for All blows up my body even if I use it just once," Izuku told him. "I can't handle it any better then I can handle my own Quirk…"

"There's no getting around that," All Might told him. "For now, you've only just become able to hold One for All in your body. If you just suddenly sprouted a tail, you wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to use it. Control of it will come later the more you train up your "vessel"."

"…wait, you knew I'd wreck my body before all this?!"

"Well…yeah, there was just no time to get you used to it, but everything worked out _all might!"_ The hero floundered slightly. He reached down to pick up a couple of discarded cans, which Izuku eyed with annoyance. He'd spent the last ten months cleaning this beach and people were already leaving trash here, dammit.

"Right now, you're all or nothing with One for All," All Might told him. "With time and training, you'll be able to use it in more manageable quantities until you can wield it all without a problem."

He shifted into his muscle form and crushed the cans in one hand. "Like this."

Izuku nodded. That made sense.

"As for your own Quirk…" All Might turned towards the ocean after tossing the crushed rubbish into a nearby trash can. "We haven't gotten to practice it at all since we were trying to build you up to use One for All. I saw you use it briefly during the exam, though."

The boy suddenly tensed. "Wh-what did the other teachers think of it?"

All Might set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "They know you've got a Flame Quirk, but since it was so briefly used, not much else. Your homeroom teacher and other members of the main staff will learn about what your Quirk is, though. They're given that information so they can train you as best as possible."

Izuku looked at his feet, feeling his nerves already go out of control. All Might knelt to look him in the eye. "None of them are going to judge you by your Quirk, young man. They're all good, fair teachers and heroes. They'll help you learn how to turn those flames into something that can protect people. Okay?"

"I-I'm sorry, I just- " he swallowed. "I guess I haven't really considered that I'll have to use my Quirk at U.A. Now I'm about to actually go there and…wh-what if I scare the other students with it?"

All Might squeezed his shoulder. "It's true, you might. Your Quirk is nearly identical to Heat Viper's, but it's been a while since he was active and so kids your age probably won't see it for what it is. If anyone does recognize it, they might be intimidated. It's unfair, but that's how it is. It's your job to show them that their fears are unwarranted. Being a hero is largely dependent on your actions. U.A is where you'll begin to take those actions. And don't forget, you've got One for All now. You can take _both_ of those Quirks and turn them into one that will shine more gloriously than they possibly could on their own."

Izuku absorbed those words and just closed his eyes, cementing them into the forefront of his mind. He needed to make sure he didn't forget that.

"Hold up, is that All Might?!"

"No way, when did he get here?!"

All Might and Izuku flinched as the couple on the pier realized who was with them. The hero stood and darted off. "We're running, kid!"

"Y-yes!"

All Might glanced over his shoulder at the boy as they hightailed it. _The flame I passed onto you is small, but in time, it'll be exposed to wind and rain and grow in strength. You will grow into an inferno to take my place as I slowly fade away. Then my duty will be done…yeah, that's deep!_

"Ah- that's right!" All Might exclaimed. "Almost forgot! I need you to meet with me again tomorrow, kid! Come by U.A!"

"Huh? Sure, but what for?"

* * *

Izuku stared at the squared hero beside All Might with sparkling eyes. "Cementoss! Oh wow! I didn't know you were a teacher at U.A too!"

Cementoss sweat-dropped at the boy's enthusiasm and quietly muttered to All Might. "Is he always like this?"

"He'll get over it in a bit," All Might replied, chuckling. "He's a huge fanboy, though."

"Anyways," Cementoss offered the teen a kind smile. "That's right. I'm Cementoss, a teacher at U.A and a Pro Hero."

Izuku bowed politely. "It's an honor to meet you! But uh…well, what am I doing here?"

"Here" was a huge, seemingly empty building with a concrete floor. There didn't appear to be anything special about it, which was why Izuku was so puzzled. Despite the building being on U.A's campus, it was rather plain.

"This is a facility of my own devising, TDL," Cementoss explained. "Better known as the "Training Dream Land" by the students. Using my Quirk, I can prepare terrains and training objects personalized for each student."

He knelt to touch the ground and as Izuku watched, a few sections of the floor rose up to create several man-sized spires of concrete.

"Later in the semester, your homeroom teacher will bring you and the other students out here to develop special moves with your Quirks, but that's not why we're here."

Izuku jumped as a small, white creature hopped onto All Might's shoulder from seemingly out of nowhere. It looked like a large mouse in a suit with a scar over its right eye, but it spoke as well as any human. The creature gave him a wave with one paw from its place on All Might's shoulder. "I'm Nezu! The principal of U.A!"

"P-principal?!" Izuku yelped, starting to panic. "Wait, I'm not in trouble, am I?!"

"You're not, so settle down!" All Might was quick to reassure him. "You're here for a different reason."

He sagged in relief as Nezu jumped to the ground and approached him. "All Might explained the circumstances to us regarding your Quirk. You haven't used it in several years, correct?"

Izuku nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable. "Yes sir."

"Because of that, your elementary and middle school records have almost no information about your Quirk," Nezu went on. "But we can't have that. U.A needs more information than the simple "Flame Quirk" you're registered with."

"Oh," he realized what they wanted now. It made him feel small, and a pit formed in his stomach.

"Don't look so worried," Nezu smiled at him. "No one here is going to judge you for your Quirk resembling Heat Viper's. You don't have any control over that. Besides, it could be that the only thing similar about your Quirks is their appearance and base form. Quirks are inherited from both parents, you know."

Izuku swallowed hard. "Wh-what do I have to do?"

"We'll need you to activate your Quirk first of all," Nezu explained. "Then we're going to put it through a few simple tests to identify what it really does."

"O-okay," Izuku stammered. "Now?"

Nezu walked back to All Might and nodded once he got there. "Now."

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried his best to will the flames to gather around his body, but they weren't coming as fast as they had when he flared up against the Sludge villain. All Might and the other teachers watched as small sputters of flame randomly tried to start up on his body, but they barely lasted a second before flickering away.

"Something wrong?" Cementoss asked innocently.

"Just- just give me a minute," Izuku pleaded, his eyes still shut.

Nezu had crawled his way back up to All Might's shoulder. As he watched the teen struggle several meters away, he began to speak quietly to the other hero. _"I can already tell those mental blocks he's built up are going to be a problem."_

 _"_ _Yes,"_ All Might replied lowly. _"He's made himself think that if he uses his Quirk in front of others, they'll reject him out of fear. But I know he can use it."_

 _"_ _A situation where his Quirk is triggered by adrenaline is very different from a passive one like this,"_ Nezu said. _"But perhaps we can work around that for now."_

He nodded to Cementoss, who tapped the ground quietly. In an instant, the ground beneath Izuku's feet was pushed up several meters, causing the boy to yelp in shock. With that quick shot of adrenaline, his Quirk flared up and consumed his entire body.

"There we go," All Might smiled apologetically. "Sorry kiddo, but we figured you could use a little jump-start."

"I-it's fine!" Izuku stammered. He adapted himself to the heat and the sight of green flames licking his body after a few moments. "Thanks!"

Cementoss lowered him back to ground level, scratching his chin. "Well, your skin is fireproof."

"N-not really," Izuku told him, holding up one hand to watch the flames. "My skin is pretty heat resistant, but I'm only fireproof to these green flames. I was messing with my mom's candles one day and got burned a little. It took a while though."

All Might raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing with candles?"

"Um, my mom puts them out every now and again to make the house smell nice," the teen said. "I didn't use my Quirk, but I wanted to see if I could touch regular fire somehow and well…I played with the candles for too long, I guess."

All Might sweat-dropped. Somehow, he could definitely see Izuku doing that.

"Speaking of outside sources of fire," Nezu pressed a button on a data pad he had extracted from his pocket and after a moment, a section of the floor opened up like a sliding door and revealed what looked like an oversize bunsen burner. "All Might said you could manipulate other flames from the Sludge villain incident. I'd like you to demonstrate that, please."

The burner lit up, prompting Izuku to turn towards it. He held his hand out, narrowing his eyes in concentration. He was willing the flames to come to him, and they did after a few moments. The flames rushed towards him as though he were a magnet, quickly reaching the teen and his own green fire.

The moment the outside flames touched the green fire, the latter began to consume the former at a rapid pace. Izuku was careful to make sure the flames didn't get too close to him until his own fire had completely transmuted them into the familiar green flames.

Nezu watched with a thoughtful look, typing notes on his data pad all the while. "I see! So your Quirk attracts and changes outside sources of fire into green flames! How's your control?"

Izuku waved one hand to the side and the flames followed. He could bring them in closer and push them away, but the farther away they got, the harder it was for him to control them. They completely fizzled out once they got to a certain distance. "It's not bad…I feel like it's kind of rough since I never use it, but I can make them do what I want as long as they're close enough."

"Looks like ten meters is your limit for now," Nezu agreed. "You can work on improving that once school starts. Can you extinguish them?"

Izuku focused for a second, willing most of the flames to dissipate, but not all of them. He made sure to keep the flames around his body- he wasn't sure he could get them going again if he cut them off completely.

All Might nodded. "You've got pretty decent control over them, even if it's obvious you haven't used your Quirk in a while."

"How much flame can you produce on your own?" Nezu asked. "Without external sources?"

Izuku frowned and tried to generate as much flame as he could, but it did little more than create a slightly larger cloak of flame around him. After nearly a minute of straining himself, he had to sit down to catch his breath. "Th-that's it…I can't make any more on my own…"

"In other words, you need to be close to an external source of flame to take full advantage of your Quirk, huh?" Cementoss said thoughtfully. "It's actually somewhat similar to my own Quirk."

Nezu finished typing on the data pad and leapt down. "All done! You're fine to cut the power there, young man."

Izuku gladly let the flames vanish totally. He was starting to feel a little too warm for his liking and he was getting kind of thirsty. "How'd I do?"

"Perfectly well," Nezu assured him. "I'll add this data to U.A's private profile on you. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Midoriya. Enjoy your last few weeks on break- we'll be seeing you again in Spring."

Nezu and Cementoss took off then, leaving Izuku with All Might.

All Might walked over and offered a hand to Izuku, pulling him back to his feet. "You did great."

"Thanks," Izuku mumbled, feeling slightly flushed. "I'm still nervous, though."

"If you got over your fear in a day, I'd be very surprised," All Might told him. He set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Give it time. But you saw today that there are people here who see your Quirk as your own, right? They don't see your Quirk and immediately think of Viper's. They see your Quirk as your own unique trait, which it is. Viper's Flame Quirk was similar, but he couldn't attract flames like you can. That's from your mother's Quirk, right there."

That brought a slight smile to Izuku's face. "I guess you're right."

"I understand if you're still uncomfortable showing your Quirk in front of others, but make sure you're prepared to use it," All Might warned him. "U.A isn't going to be a walk in the park. You'll be pushed beyond your limits each and every day. Your first test is going to be conquering your fear."

"Remember this, young man. To be a hero is to help others. But you'll only be able to help others if you can help yourself, as well."

* * *

A few weeks later and it was Spring- time for classes at U.A to start. Izuku was rushing to make sure he had everything even though he'd packed and repacked it all twice the night before and once already this morning. His mom was as flustered as he was.

"You've got tissues?"

"Yes!"

"And your handkerchief?"

"Yes!"

"The non-flammable one, right?"

"Yes!" He yelped, stuffing his feet into his shoes. "I gotta go!"

"Izuku, wait!" Inko called.

He stopped with the door half-open, impatient and nervous. "What?"

Inko offered him a teary smile. "I'm so proud of you, okay? You're really cool."

Her words brought a warm grin unbidden to his lips. "I'm off!"

* * *

Getting to U.A was the easy bit, but Izuku couldn't believe how big the insides of the building were. He was racing through the hallway to find his classroom.

"1A…1A…" He panted. "Where the heck is it?!"

He finally found the door, which was enormous to say the least. He had to actually lean his head back all the way to see the top. "Holy crap…I guess it's for people with Gigantification Quirks."

His hand hesitantly reached for the door handle. _Only thirty six kids passed the exam to get into the Hero Course, plus four student who got in on recommendations…twenty kids in classes 1A and 1B. These guys are the best of the best to become heroes…_

He opened the door meekly, peering in, and was immediately given a sense of deja vu.

Katsuki was sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the desk while the guy who had called Izuku out during the exam was arguing with him. Izuku sweat-dropped. _Oh boy._

"Remove your feet from the desk this instant!" Glasses guy ordered Katsuki. "That's disrespectful towards our upperclassmen and the school!"

Katsuki sneered at him. "Are you actually serious? Did your middle school put a stick up your ass, or were you born that way?!"

The other teen held his hands up stiffly, not unlike a robot. "My name is Tenya Iida. I come from Soumei Private School."

"Soumei!" Katsuki scowled. "You're a damn elite, then. Just another reason to blow your ass up!"

"Blow me up?! Are you really aiming to be a hero?!" Tenya demanded, recoiling from Katsuki.

At this point, both boys noticed Izuku hovering by the door nervously. Tenya immediately approached him, much to Izuku's discomfort.

"Greetings. My name is-"

"I-I overheard you," Izuku stammered to interrupt him. "Erm…I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you…"

"Izuku…I must acknowledge you for discerning the true nature of the practical exam!" Tenya declared. "I completely misread you! I hate to admit it, but you surpassed me during the test!"

He wasn't even sure how to tell the guy that he hadn't had the foggiest idea about it either, but thankfully he caught Katsuki's eye and waved hesitantly. "Oh! Hey, Katsuki!"

Katsuki huffed. "Good, you finally got here. I was gonna blow you up if you didn't."

"You mean on the Xbox, right?" Izuku laughed nervously.

"Ah- it's you! The curly-haired guy!"

Izuku jumped and spun around only to blush furiously when he realized the same girl from the exam- Ochako, wasn't it?- had appeared behind him at the door. She smiled widely at him and he couldn't help but notice that the school uniform looked really good on her aaaaand he was blushing even more now, dammit.

"You made it in, after all!" She exclaimed. "Just like Present Mic said! Awesome! By the way, that punch of yours was crazy! You blew that big robot up with one shot!"

"Uh-umm, n-no, i-it was 'cause y-you spoke o-on my-my-my behalf, a-and huh…"

"Huh? How'd you know about that?"

"Uh! I-I mean-!"

Katsuki frowned in confusion as he heard the conversation go on. _He blew a robot up with a punch? What, did he use his Quirk to light the thing up?_

Ochako was still enthusiastically talking to Izuku, who looked like he might pass out from all the blood rushing to his face. Katsuki snorted; the guy was freaking out over a girl getting so close to him it was hilarious. "I wonder if today's the ceremony or if we're gonna meet with counselors or something? Do you know what our teacher is like? I'm really excited about it!"

"If you're here to have fun, do me a favor and leave now."

Ochako stopped talking and Izuku paled as he looked at the floor behind her. She turned and her face twisted a little as she noticed the really creepy face poking out of a big yellow sleeping bag. The man inside looked like he hadn't slept for a year and forgot how to shave cleanly.

The man's voice was low and tired sounding. "This is the Hero Course. Get your act together."

He pulled out a juice pouch and sucked it down in one go.

Izuku gulped. _What the hell is that?_

The man crawled out of his sleeping bag and walked to stand in front of the rest of the class. "It took you lot eight seconds to quiet down. Time is limited. You kids aren't rational enough. I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Pleasure meeting you."

 _This guy is our homeroom teacher?!_ Izuku stared at the man in disbelief. _That means he's a Pro Hero, but I've never heard of him…and I've never seen a hero who looks so worn-down._

Aizawa reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a bunch of blue and white track uniforms. "This is sudden, but put these on and go to the P.E grounds."

* * *

Toshinori Yagi, more commonly known as All Might, was sitting in his new office at U.A going through paperwork and a mountain of files on the new classes. Most specifically, he was focusing on the information about class 1A, where Izuku had been assigned. He was already feeling concerned that the boy might be unprepared for the early trials of the school.

 _U.A's teaching system is very different from others,_ he thought to himself. _Depending on the homeroom teacher he's assigned, even the first day can be unforgiving._

He felt a headache coming on as he found the file on the class's teacher. He didn't even need to see the picture, just the guy's hero name; Eraser Head. "Oh great, he got Aizawa."

The man in question was notorious for expelling students he felt had no potential. If the file was accurate (which Toshinori knew for a fact it was) Aizawa had expelled one hundred and fifty four students during his time at U.A.

"He's in for a rough day," Toshinori sighed.

* * *

"A Quirk Assessment Test?!"

Aizawa nodded. "Yup. Get ready."

"W-wait!" Ochako stammered. "What about the introduction ceremony or counselor meetings?"

"If you want to be heroes, you won't have time for things like that," Aizawa muttered, looking at them through the messy black locks covering part of his face. "U.A is so successful patly because of the great freedom it allows on campus. That freedom is also allowed to the teachers."

 _What does that mean?_ Izuku wondered. It made him feel uneasy for some reason.

"You all remember the exercises you had to do in middle school, right?" Aizawa asked them. "The physical tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still hasn't gotten around to standardizing those sort of things. It's illogical."

He pulled out a tablet from his pocket and tapped on a measurement app that was linked up with the school system. "Let's just get to it. Katsuki, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Sixty seven meters."

"Give it another go," Aizawa told him, tossing a softball at the boy casually and pointing at a circle of ground used for softball pitch. "Use your Quirk this time. As long as you don't leave the circle, it doesn't matter what you do. Don't hold back, though."

The teen stretched his arms for a moment as he walked into the circle. He grinned maniacally for a moment. "You asked for it!"

"DIE!"

As he threw the ball, a huge explosion erupted from Katsuki's palm, propelling the ball way farther than he would have been able to throw otherwise.

Izuku sweat-dropped at the display. "Die?"

Aizawa watched the gauge climb until the softball finally hit the ground again. "Before you can think about training, you need to know your uppermost limit. That's how we form the basis of your hero training."

He showed them the final score and the class was shocked to see that Katsuki had thrown the ball over seven hundred meters.

"Are you serious?!" A kid with spiky red hair grinned a little nervously. "That's nuts!"

Another teen, a girl with pink skin and gleaming yellow eyes clapped her hands together. "This looks like fun! We can use our Quirks all we like?"

Aizawa shifted slightly. "It looks fun, huh?"

The man suddenly looked a lot more serious as he glared at them from behind those dark locks of hair covering his face. "Were you planning on having a good time during these three years here? If that's how you feel, then let's change things up. The student who ranks last in these eight tests will be judged as having zero potential and be expelled immediately."

Izuku blanched. _Wait, seriously?! That's not funny! How am I gonna get through this?!_

Aizawa grinned, brushing his bangs up with one hand to sneer at them. "In this school, teachers can use their freedom to expel students as we choose. Welcome to U.A's Hero Course, brats."

"W-wait a minute!" A girl (Izuku assumed it was a girl by the voice) who appeared to be totally invisible save her clothing interrupted. "This is just our first day! No, even if it wasn't, that's way too unreasonable!"

"That's the life of a hero," Aizawa replied, unfazed by the outburst. "Natural disasters, big accidents, rampaging villains…these kinds of things can happen when we least expect it. The job of a hero is to reverse all that insanity and restore reason. If you were thinking that you could just have a good time out here every day, then let me burst that bubble you've got right now. From here on out, for the next three years, U.A is going to throw more hardships at you than you could count. Don't you know the school motto? _Plus Ultra."_

Aizawa smirked. "You wanna be a hero? Overcome those hardships and climb to the top of the mountain. If you fall on the way up, catch yourself with your own power. We ain't gonna hook you up with a lifeline. Now step up to the plate and show me what you've got, greenhorns."

Izuku was freaking out. _This is bad! This is really bad! Even if I could use it in front of everyone here, my Quirk isn't useful for any of the physical tests! One for All too! I can only use it at a hundred percent and it totally breaks my body! What do I do?!_

* * *

Toshinori had assumed his muscle form and gone out to watch the 1A Quirk Assessment for himself. Aizawa was really giving them a rough time and he could see that Izuku was having the worst of it. In all the exercises thus far, there was really nothing he could do with either of the Quirks he possessed. In hindsight, he knew he should've had the kid work on his own Quirk during their training, but there had been barely any time at all to build him up to inherit One for All.

The circumstances were very different, as well. Toshinori had been able to wield One for All right off the bat without any of the negative effects Izuku had to experience. Not to mention that personality-wise, they were total opposites from how he'd been when he first inherited the Quirk.

He'd been confident and bold. Izuku was nervous and timid.

 _Your low self-esteem and the fear of your Quirk causing others to reject you are making it even harder for you to behave like a normal teen,_ Toshinori thought. _Even so, U.A and I can't afford to coddle you. Sorry kid, but you've gotta figure this one out on your own._

* * *

They were back to the softball throw test. After going through the fifty meter dash, grip strength, standing long jump, and continuous side jumps, Izuku was one hundred percent sure he was well and truly screwed. The only tests after this were the long-distance run, toe touches, and upper body exercises. Neither of his Quirks were going to be useful for those. It was now or never and he still had no idea how he was going to do this.

It didn't help that Ochako went and scored _infinity_ on the ball throw with her Zero Gravity Quirk.

 _If I don't get a good score here, I'm gonna be expelled,_ he thought, panicking. _I'm just gonna have to use One for All! Even if I blow my arm up, I should get a score high enough to pass!_

"Izuku's not doing very well, is he?" Tenya muttered off to the side as said teen took his place for the softball pitch.

Ochako frowned. "Why hasn't he used his Quirk yet? He should be at the top of the board right now…"

Katsuki was watching Izuku with his eyes narrowed into a glare. _The hell is he doing? He hasn't even tried using his Quirk for the other exercises. Don't tell me he's still scared of it!_

Izuku gripped the ball tightly in his hand. He made up his mind. He was gonna send this thing flying with One for All, even if it blew up his arm. He'd figure out what to do for the other tests after that.

He brought his arm back, letting One for All rush through his veins, and then threw the ball for all his was worth.

"Forty six meters."

Izuku blanched. "Wh-what? I definitely used it just now!

"I erased your Quirk."

The teen spun towards Aizawa and felt his blood run cold. The man's hair was flowing back away from his face and the silver cloth he wore around his neck was hovering around him like snakes ready to bite. His eyes were glowing as he glared at Izuku. "What were they thinking, letting a kid like you into academy?"

"Erased…?" It suddenly clicked for Izuku as he spotted yellow goggled around the man's neck, previously hidden by the silver cloth. "Wait- you're Eraser Head!"

Aizawa didn't confirm it, but he didn't have to. He stalked towards Izuku, still glaring at him. "You were gonna blow your arm up, weren't you? I remember seeing that power from the entrance exam. You can't manage it efficiently at all. What are you going to do when you cripple yourself? Is someone going to have to save you every time you use that power?"

"N-no! I- ah!" Izuku yelped as the silver cloths wrapped around his arms and yanked him closer to Aizawa, who leaned in to mutter lowly.

"Where's "your" Quirk? You haven't used it at all. At bare minimum, you should at least have tried using it the same way that Katsuki uses his explosions. Did you think you could just half-ass this and get by with a broken arm?"

Izuku gulped, looking away from him. "I-I…I can't..use it in front of everyone…"

"No? Then get out of here," Aizawa snapped. The cloths bound around Izuku tighter and forced his head to turn so he was looking at the Pro. "If you can't use your Quirk in front of people, then you may as well not have a Quirk at all. And I know I don't have to tell you this, but a person without a Quirk can't be a hero."

"I'm trying…" Izuku protested. "It's…I…"

"No one here at U.A is going to coddle you," Aizawa told him roughly. "If your fear is too much, you don't need to be here. Figure it out now or give up. You can't become a hero with that kind of block on your power."

The cloths released him and Aizawa closed his eyes- he had to shut them for a moment since he couldn't blink while using his Quirk- letting out an irritated sigh. "I've returned your Quirk to you. Give it your best shot."

He felt like crawling into a hole to die. As if that wasn't discouraging enough…

He started muttering to himself out of habit. _"The only way I can pass is by using One for All to shoot the ball as far as possible, but what if he grades me harder for not using my Quirk? I can't flare up all the way in front of everyone, but if I don't, I might get expelled…what am I supposed to do?"_

Aizawa watched the boy mutter to himself after getting some eye droplets into his eyes. He was curious to see what he'd do after getting shoved into a corner like this, but he was pretty sure the kid wouldn't be able to pass this hurdle. He was just way too timid and reluctant to use his Quirk.

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut tightly to reel in his panic. _I'm just gonna have to do whatever I can for now!_

He brought his arm back and went through the motions to throw the ball, but it was only at the very last second that he let One for All and his Quirk loose.

Aizawa's eyes widened in surprise as Izuku's hand exploded with emerald fire, igniting the softball to propel it away. At the same time, One for All built up in his index finger and at the last point of contact, Izuku let it all rip and sent it flying as far as he possibly could. Aizawa waited several seconds for the ball to hit the ground before he checked the distance.

Eight hundred and fifteen meters.

 _Huh. He didn't channel it through his whole arm and waited until the last possible second to launch the ball with that crippling strength. To top it off, he lit it up with his flames and controlled those to propel it further still. Patchy at best, but…not too shabby._

"Mr. Aizawa?" The man blinked and looked up to see Izuku clench his hand into a fist, despite his broken finger. He was biting his lip to withstand the pain, but he was still standing and certainly not crippled. "I can keep going!"

Aizawa grinned. "Good!"

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, another chapter. This one gets a little more into detail regarding Izuku's original Quirk, but I'm still developing it myself, so expect more info on it as the story continues. In any case, you'll find out about a few more difference from the canon next chapter!**

 **But enough from me, onto the review responses for chapter two!**

 **Shunakoo25: Okay the story is getting much more interesting. I'd like to know more. Especially Deku's quirk. I would wonder of he will use it in the test with Aizawa later on. And I really like the closeness between Kacchan and Deku. Even if he still had his badmouthing and being an ass I like his personality most on BNHA, other than Izuku. I can't wait for the next chapter I'm really looking forward on how the things will turn out. Whaaaaaa this another Great BNHA fanfic story!**

 **-I know I touched more on Izuku's Quirk in this chapter, but as I stated above, there's more info that you'll learn in later chapters. Izuku and Katsuki's relationship is one I definitely intend to capitalize on in this story- it's a lot different from the canon, but I still want the characters to stay true to themselves for the most part. So Katsuki is still an ass- just a little less of one when it comes to Izuku. Just slightly. He's still an ass and he wouldn't be Katsuki if he wasn't lol**

 **TheStoryWever:**

 **...(0_0)...**  
 **...(-_-)...blink**  
 **...(0_0)...**  
 **...(-_-)...blink**  
 **...(0_0)...**  
 **...This...**  
 **...Is...**  
 **...EPIC! I will wait as long as I must for the next chapter!**

 **-I have to say, I've never gotten a comment with such a creative blinking illustration XD This story still needs a lot more development before it really gets epic in my mind at least, but hopefully it will get there in time. I'll also do my best to keep you from waiting too long, but keep in mind that I do have college and several other stories that I work on regularly! Oh, and I work, but you know. Details. Moving on!**

 **Pokman12023: This story is pretty good so far. It has a very interesting concept. I'm excited to read more of it. I've read several of your past stories and enjoyed them all immensely so I'm excited to see what you can do with Boku no Hero. Best of luck with your writing and I hope you update soon!**

 **-It's got a long way to go! I'm also looking forward to seeing what I can do with this series- it's become one of my absolute favorites as of late and I would love to write a really good fanfic about it. Here's hoping it turns out as great as we want it to!**

 **Exziles: Nice chapter once again. Glad to see a MHA fic where Bakugo doesn't hate Izuku's guts. Also, will you try including your own made up arc, or are you just going to follow cannon with a few obvious changes to fit the differences you've made from cannon? Peace out and stay safe!**

 **-It's surprisingly tricky writing Bakugo in this setting- I'm trying my best to balance his canon personality in a way that suits my story without making him totally ooc, y'know? I have to make him abrasive, but slightly less so towards only Izuku and no one else. I WILL be including my own arc in the story, but only after I get through some of the early stuff. I've written stories where I only made obvious changes like you stated and honestly looking back on them, I was disappointed in my own lack of creativity. So yes, I will be writing and developing my own arc for the series, (perhaps even several) but that is as of yet still in development.**

 **That's it for now! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	4. Combat Training

_Chapter Four: Combat Training_

In the wake of Izuku's impressive throw, the rest of Class 1A took a moment to admire his throw.

"Woohoo!" Ochako cheered. "Now that's a heroic score!"

Tenya blinked at the sight of Izuku clutching his right hand. "His finger looks swollen…It's just like the Entrance Exam. What an odd Quirk."

A blonde kid who had been shooting a laser out of his belly button for the last few tests shrugged. "It's not stylish at all."

Katsuki did a spit take and choked on the water he was drinking. _What the fuck is that power?!_

Izuku walked back to the group of students clutching at his hand, but yelped when Katsuki grabbed him by the collar and yanked him over, staring at him with a sort of perplexed fury. "How the _fuck_ did you do that?!"

"W-well, I-I-I just propelled it with my Quirk!" He stammered.

"You barely ever _use_ your Quirk!" Katsuki hissed. "There's no way the base power is that fucking high! Explain what you just did and- wait, what the fuck?"

He'd spotted Izuku's injured finger and took several seconds to process the connection between the injury and Izuku's unbelievably good throw. When Katsuki looked back at his face, Izuku cringed at the rage in his eyes. _"Deku…"_

"Y-yeah?"

He screamed as Katsuki put him in a headlock and started to mercilessly drive his knuckles into his head. "YOU DUMBASS! You blew your finger up with your Quirk?! You're supposed to be _smart_ , goddammit! Don't try and outdo me if you fuck yourself up!"

"I'M SO SORRY!" Izuku cried, trying to escape the inescapable grip of his best friend to no avail.

Most of the class sweat-dropped at the display.

"What even?" Asked the pink-skinned girl.

"I think he's concerned for his friend…" The red-headed boy suggested hesitantly. Katsuki grew even more ruthless after Izuku tried to escape him. "I think…"

"Sheesh, talk about tough love," said another boy with round elbows.

Aizawa snorted and glanced at the time. They had a few more tests to complete, so there was no time for dillydallying. "Come on, let's get moving. We're not done yet."

* * *

The next two tests flew by, although Izuku had trouble with them due to the pain of his broken finger and so didn't get another score that was especially high. When all was said and done, they gathered at the starting point with Mr. Aizawa, who was going through all the records with the same, bored expression he'd had all class.

"So…" A blonde kid with black highlights similar to lightning bolts tapped the ground with his foot awkwardly. "What's the verdict?"

"Hm?" Aizawa glanced up at him.

"The lowest score gets expelled, right?" The guy looked a little nervous. "Who's having a bad day?"

"Oh, I lied."

Izuku blinked. "Huh?"

Aizawa's shit-eating grin was the visual definition of a god-tier troll. "That was a logical ruse to bring out the best of your Quirks."

About eighty percent of the class screamed. "WHAT?!"

One of the girls raised an eyebrow at the shocked expressions on her classmate's faces. "That should've been obvious. Of course it was a lie."

Aizawa ignored the mental devastation he'd left in his wake and started to walk off. "That's it. The papers for your curriculums are back in the classroom. Go give 'em a read. Oh, and Izuku."

Izuku was still trying to process that he wasn't getting expelled and robotically accepted the slip of paper Aizawa gave him. "Go get yourself patched up by Recovery Girl. And be prepared for tomorrow's ordeal."

"Yes, sir," he replied absently.

* * *

The rest of the day passed in a blur for Izuku. Visiting Recovery Girl had gotten his finger healed in no time, but her Quirk merely accelerated the body's healing process. It required energy, so even though he was fine now, his body was low on fuel.

He was rubbing his eyes by the time he and Katsuki started walking home for the station. "I'm sleepy…"

"Wake up," Katsuki muttered. "I ain't carrying your ass home."

"Oh, is your finger healed?"

Izuku stood ramrod stiff when the foreign hand placed itself on his shoulder, but he relaxed slightly when he recognized the person to whom it belonged. "Oh, Tenya! Y-yeah, I'm fine thanks to Recovery Girl!"

"That's good!" Tenya nodded robotically.

Katsuki rolled his eyes in exasperation. "It's because this dumbass blew his finger up in the first place."

Tenya fell in beside Izuku on the opposite side of Katsuki and held his chin in thought. "I have to say, Mr. Aizawa surprised me! I never would have expected a teacher to encourage someone with deception!"

Izuku nodded silently. _Tenya seemed a little scary before, but I guess he's just really diligent. He's not bad once you get past the intimidating part._

"Hey!"

The trio stopped and turned at the sound of their classmate's voice. Ochako was rushing towards them from the school, prompting Izuku to start blushing out of habit. "Are you guys heading to the station? Wait up!"

Katsuki stared at her. "Round face."

"Round-?!" Ochako stopped dead and stared at him incredulously.

"You're the infinity girl," Tenya said after a moment.

Ochako recovered from her shock at Katsuki's comment and nodded, smiling brightly. "I'm Ochako Uraraka! Umm…you're Tenya Iida..Katsuki Bakago…and Deku Midoriya, right?"

 _"_ _Deku?!"_

 _"'_ _Baka'go?!"_

"Yeah, earlier you called him Deku, right?" She pointed at Katsuki, who still looked outraged and baffled.

The blonde teen huffed angrily. "I call him that 'cause he can't do anything with his Quirk! Also, it's _Bakugo!"_

"M-my real name is Izuku…" "Deku" corrected her timidly.

Tenya chopped a hand towards him. "So it's an insult?"

"Oh, gosh!" Ochako put a hand behind her head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry! But you know…Deku kinda reminds of the word for "don't give up" so I kinda like it!"

"I'M DEKU!"

Katsuki choked on his own saliva from witnessing the hilariously red face the green-haired teen was sporting. "What the fuck is that weird look?!"

"Izuku, you accepted that too easily!" Tenya admonished.

Izuku covered his blazing face. "It's like a copernican revolution…"

"A…what?" Ochako asked, confused.

Katsuki scoffed and started walking again. "Ugh, I can't stand this. Hurry it up, scrubs. We're gonna be late."

"Is that a derogatory reference?!" No mystery who asked that question.

The group of teens walked together to the station, although Katsuki didn't say anything more than a few choice curse words. It was nice, albeit a little awkward, but Izuku thought to himself that he could definitely get used to it.

* * *

Day two came around with a much more easygoing start. Since Mr. Aizawa wasn't trying to con them with another logical ruse, homeroom wasn't nearly as dreadful for Izuku. It was still slightly nerve-wracking, but for a different reason.

"Introduce yourselves to your classmates," Aizawa told them, still wrapped up in his yellow sleeping bag. "Since you'll be working with each other for the next three years, you need to get to know each other. The logical way to do that is as early as possible. You'll come up here one after another and state your name, what your Quirk is, and something else about yourself. I don't care what it is."

"Sir!" Tenya held his hand up with lightning speed. "How should we proceed with the order of students?"

"I don't care," Aizawa deadpanned. "I'm going to sleep. Handle it yourselves."

So while the Pro took a nap, Tenya more or less organized the class introductions himself. They ended up going from the front row to the back row in a right-to-left formation.

First up was the girl who was only known to be a girl by her outfit- the rest of her body was totally invisible. Literally. She was completely see-through. "Ehehe, this is kinda embarrassing with everyone looking at me…but whatever! Hi, I'm Toru Hagakure! My Quirk is called Transparency, and it's kinda obvious what it does, right? Something else about me, um…oh! I like plushies and other cute stuff!"

Next was a huge guy with a mask over his mouth and six arms. "I'm Mezo Shoji. My Quirk is Dupli-Arms. I can create replicas of my body parts on my tentacles, like my mouth, ears, and eyes. I've never really had any worldly desires, so I guess that's it."

"I'm Mashirao Ojiro," said the next student, a blonde guy with a long and powerful tail. "My Quirk is just my tail. It's more or less a third arm, but it helps me maintain my balance. Something about me…I practice martial arts."

The next guy was excessively glamorous. "I am Yuga Aoyama," the blonde teen announced with a dramatic flourish of his hands. "My Quirk is the fabulous Naval Laser! I can shoot a laser from my bellybutton! But if I shoot it for more than a second, I get a tummy ache. Another stylish fact about me is that I speak French!"

Katsuki was up next, scowling after Yuga with an annoyed look. "What's with that tool? Whatever. The name's Katsuki Bakugo. My Quirk is Explosion. All you need to know is that I can blow your asses up. I'm gonna be the number one hero, so stay out of my way, extras."

Izuku sweat-dropped at the irritated responses from the rest of the class after Katsuki's introduction. _Yep, that's classic Katsuki…I guess he's in a good mood though, since he only cussed us out once._

"I don't like having to follow up after such a jerk," the next student was a girl with extended ear lobes that looked like plug-in jacks. She scowled at Katsuki, who sneered back, but ignored him otherwise. "My name is Kyoka Jiro. My Quirk is called Earphone Jack. I can insert them into objects and send the sound of my heartbeat through them. I can also hear pretty well, even through really thick walls. Oh, these stretch, too." She showed them by letting one of the jacks extend until it was several feet long before she retracted it. "I can play music with a few different instruments."

Next up was the blonde guy with black, lightning-shaped highlights in his hair. He grinned confidently. "Hey! I'm Denki Kaminari, my Quirk is Electrification! I can let loose a bunch of electricity from my body and shock people by touching them! I kinda short-circuit if I go over my wattage limit, though. I like reading manga and comics!"

"My turn~!" Exclaimed the pink-skinned girl, who bounced to the front of the class. Izuku also noticed that she had a pair of small, yellow horns atop her head. In addition, the sclera of her eyes was black, making her gold irises pop out. "I'm Mina Ashido and my Quirk is Acid! It lets me secrete corrosive acid from my skin, which is why I got this hot purple-pink tone to me! I can control its solubility and viscosity, but I like using it to surf on whatever I want! If I use it for too long, I start losing my own resistance to it. I like to break dance but I don't like bullies! I'm looking at you, Katsuki!"

Katsuki threw a perfect middle finger in her direction. "Fuck off!"

It was Izuku's turn next. He nervously walked to the front and hesitantly smiled a little. "H-hi, I-I-I'm Izuku M-Midoriya…Erm…My Quirk…uh…it's…"

He was silent for a few seconds, trying to get the nerve to tell everyone what his Quirk was. Katsuki got impatient and scowled. "Do I need to come up and hold your hand or something? Just tell them, dammit!"

"Don't rush him, Katsuki," Mina shot him a warning look. "We've got plenty of time."

"Shut it."

Izuku didn't want them to start arguing, so he got it out as quickly as possible. "M-my Quirk is called All Flare!"

Katsuki and Mina, who had been glaring daggers at each other, stopped and looked back at Izuku as he reclaimed everyone's attention. The green-haired boy looked at the floor, still feeling jittery in every cell of his body. "I-I can emit green fire from my body…Not much, though. I have to get fire from an outside source, or I'm limited to that. Uh..my green fire changes regular fire to the kind I can use. I'm a little heat resistant, but flames that aren't mine can still burn me after a bit. O-oh! If I concentrate them in one place, they can create an explosive force! Th-that's pretty much it…"

"You gonna tell us something about yourself?" Kyoka prompted, lazily swinging one of her jacks around her finger.

"Oh!" He stiffened and nodded jerkily. Izuku had completely forgotten that part. "Um…I..I play video games. Competitively. Sometimes…"

Izuku all but ran back to his seat, trying to hide his burning face from the eyes of his classmates. For an introvert like himself, that was a nerve-wracking experience.

The next guy was a teen with rounded elbows. "Well, I'm Hanta Sero. My Quirk is Tape! I can shoot this material that's kind of like tape from my elbows. It's a lot stronger than regular tape, though. It can support my body weight pretty easily. If I use it too much, my skin dries out. I play video games too!" He grinned at Izuku in an attempt to help him relax a bit. "We gotta hang out sometime!"

Izuku managed to smile and nod his head. He appreciated Hanta's effort. It did make him feel a bit calmer.

"I'm Eijiro Kirishima!" Declared the next boy, who bore a shock of spiky red hair atop his head. He flexed one of his arms and the skin on his hand became much tougher-looking. "My Quirk is called Hardening! My skin just hardens, but I can punch through solid concrete! I'm a huge fan of the hero Crimson Riot!"

"I guess I'm next," the next person was a girl with long teal hair tied in a huge bow. She had large eyes, hands, and a rather wide mouth. "I'm Tsuyu Asui. My Quirk is called Frog-Form. I can do a lot of frog-like things. I can jump really far, climb walls, swim fast, my tongue can extend for several meters, and I can secrete a mild toxin. Maybe because of my Quirk, I'm pretty sensitive to cold. If I cool off too much, I get sleepy. Something about me is that I always say what's on my mind."

Following Tsuyu was a really short guy with purple, sphere-shaped hair. "I'm Minoru Mineta. My Quirk is called Pop-Off! I can pluck the spheres off my head and make them stick to things. They don't stick to me, though. Depending on how I'm feeling, they can stick to something for an entire day. If I take too many off, my head starts to bleed a little. Something about me…"

A lecherous grin made its way across his face. "I love girls! Girl heroes especially! Some of the costumes are super sexy!"

Most of the students found that distinctly uncomfortable. They responded with many boos and Tenya robotically swinging his arm at the other teen to reprimand him.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the class, Katsuki and Izuku stared at the unashamed pervert with intense eyes. Since Katsuki was seated in front of Izuku, he leaned back to whisper to the other teen.

"The grape is a P.A.L," Katsuki muttered, not taking his eyes off of Minoru.

"Roger that," Izuku muttered back, scribbling something in his notebook.

Up next was a teen with the head of a bird, which was covered in black feathers and bore a yellow beak. "I'm Fumikage Tokoyami. My Quirk is Dark Shadow. There's a shadow-like monster living in my body that I can materialize from wherever I want like an extension. I don't have much to say about myself. That's kind of pointless, I think."

The next student was a teenage boy who was even more shy than Izuku. He didn't actually say anything, (which was kind of surprising since he looked pretty tough with a thick, square jaw and muscular build) but instead hurriedly wrote on a little whiteboard he'd brought up to the front with him. Some of the students had to lean forward and squint to read it.

 _Koji Koda. My Quirk is Animal Voice. I can talk to animals and influence them to do what I ask. I like animals._

Mina threw a big thumbs-up in the nervous boy's direction. "Don't sweat it, Koji! That's really cool!"

Although he smiled a little at that, he hurried back to his desk.

"Hello, fellow students!" Robotically, Tenya made his way to the front and waved at them stiffly. "I am Tenya Iida! My Quirk is Engine! My legs have powerful engines in them, allowing me to shift up several gears to increase my speed! They're very similar to real engines! My older brother is the Turbo Hero, Ingenium! He is my inspiration to be a hero!"

Izuku's eyes widened in surprise. He had wondered why Tenya looked a little familiar, but he hadn't expected him to be related to a hero like Ingenium. The hero in question was a popular, rising star who did things by the book and had already amassed a large office with many sidekicks despite being so young. If Tenya was anything like his older brother, he was already on the road to becoming a great hero.

They were finally on the last row of students- just four left.

"Hello," the first teen from the final row, an attractive girl with long, black hair tied in a ponytail, smiled at the class. "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. My Quirk is called Creation. I can produce objects from any exposed part of my body. I can create virtually anything, except for living things, of course. All I need is to understand the object's atomic configuration and a little time. I enjoy reading and drinking tea in my spare time."

The next student was a teenage boy with white and red hair divided evenly down the middle. On the left side of his face, covering his eye, was a serious looking burn scar. In addition, his eyes were heterochromatic- the left was icy blue and the right was stormy gray. He spoke quietly. "I'm Shoto Todoroki. My Quirk is Half-Hot, Half-Cold. I can generate ice from my right side and fire from my left, but I won't use my left side in battle. I like snow cones."

Second-to last was another guy with short, spiky brown hair and rather full lips. "My name is Rikido Sato. My Quirk is called Sugar Rush! If I ingest ten grams of sugar, my strength gets multiplied five-fold for three minutes! For every ten grams of sugar after that, my strength doesn't rise, but the time I stay strong extends an extra three minutes. But if I try to use it for too long, my body gets really tired and shuts down for a bit. Something interesting about me is that I like to bake desserts! Especially cake!"

Last but certainly not least was a cheerful, yet somewhat shy familiar face. "Hi, I'm Ochako Uraraka! My Quirk is Zero Gravity! If I touch an object, it loses its gravitational pull and starts to float! For now, I can make objects up to three tons weightless! If I use it for a while, I start to get kinda sick. If I had to pick something to say about myself, I'd say it's that the little pads on my fingertips that I use for my Quirk are like a cat's paws!"

As soon as she was finished, Tenya stood up and walked over to Mr. Aizawa. "Sir! We've completed all the introductions!"

Aizawa didn't even open one of his eyes. "Okay, just review your curriculums and don't be late to your next class."

"Yes, sir!" Tenya replied instantly. Most of the class sweat-dropped at his seriousness.

* * *

Following homeroom, the first half of the day consisted of general studies that all students were required to take- English, Math, Science, etc. That was pretty boring in comparison to their other lessons, which took place after lunch at noon. Their Foundational Hero Studies. Frankly, that was what every student looked forward to the most.

Especially because of the teacher in charge of that class.

 _"_ _I AM…"_

Izuku and the rest of Class 1A whipped their heads towards the door, which flew open to reveal the infamous figure of the number one hero, All Might. "COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

"Whoa, it's really All Might!"

"He's wearing a costume from the Silver Age!"

"The design is super retro!"

All Might took his place at the front of the class. "This is Foundational Hero Studies! In this class, we'll be building up your foundations as heroes through countless trials! For your first trial, we'll start with this! Combat training!"

Katsuki grinned like a madman. "Hell _fucking_ yes!"

"And for your first battles…" All Might pulled out a remote and pointed it at the far wall before pressing a button, causing several sections of the wall to slide out. Inside were cases with each of the students' seat numbers displayed on them. "We've got the gear from your costume orders that you requested to match your Quirks! Get changed and gather up at Ground Beta!"

* * *

All Might was waiting for them, smiling as widely as ever as the young heroes-in-training arrived one by one at Ground Beta. "They say the clothes make the hero, ladies and gentlemen! Remember this! From now on, you're all heroes!"

Before long, they'd all gathered up. All Might's grin widened. "I'm loving everyone's styles! Very cool!"

Izuku had been the last to arrive and was still catching his breath, but he looked himself over now that he was outside. His costume was a green and white jumpsuit- one his mother had provided him as a present for making it into U.A. Atop his head, the fabric was stretched into two horn-like features which were quite similar to All Might's hairstyle. He wore white gloves, elbow and knee braces, and a red utility belt. He also had a mask that a covered his face with a wire mesh at the front so it was easy to breathe. His whole costume was fireproof- a necessary feature because of his given Quirk.

Despite him wearing the mask, Ochako recognized him immediately and bounced over with a smile. "Hey, nice costume Deku! It's real down-to-earth! I like it!"

Izuku blushed furiously upon seeing Ochako's costume, which was a black and white skintight bodysuit. She had large, knee high white shoes and a clear visor covering her face not unlike an astronaut's. The girl rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I guess I wasn't clear enough when I turned in my costume design. They gave me a skintight bodysuit…it's kind of embarrassing."

Minoru was ogling her not far away and lecherously grinned as he muttered to himself. "The Hero Course is the best."

Izuku noticed what the guy was up to and mentally tallied against him.

All Might slightly raised one eyebrow as he took in Izuku's costume, specifically the horn-like structures atop his head that resembled his own hair and the white section of his mask that looked like All Might's own wide grin.

The Pro had to stop himself from laughing and covered his mouth with one hand. _So obvious! Hahaha!_

"Sir!" One of the students wearing white armor raised his hand. Izuku recognized the voice instantly as Tenya's. "Will we be using the same mock-city from the Entrance Exam for this training?!"

All Might grinned again. "To a point. This will be indoor battle training! A lot of villain cleanup is seen in the open, but statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job. The smartest villains tend to commit their crimes out of sight from others. Kidnappings, break-ins, the black market…a lot of that goes on in the shadows! For this test, you'll be separated into two-man teams of hero and villain groups, then duke it out in two-on-two combat!"

"How do we determine who wins or loses?" Queried Momo.

"Can I just blow them all away?" Katsuki demanded.

"We won't get expelled like Mr. Aizawa said, right?" Ochako wondered nervously.

"How should we choose teams?!" Tenya questioned.

"Isn't this cape fantastic?" Yuga asked.

All Might was momentarily overwhelmed by the questions, but just grinned and bore it. "I will answer all of your questions!"

He pulled out a small sheet of paper which Izuku realized after a moment of disbelief was a script. "Listen up, the scenario for this training is that a pair of villains have a nuclear weapon somewhere in the building! The hero team must infiltrate the building and stop their nefarious plans before it's too late! If the heroes capture the villains or the weapon, they win! If the villains keep the heroes away from the weapon until time is up or they capture the heroes, they win!"

"As for your teams, they'll be chosen by lottery!"

Tenya seemed shocked. "Wait, by lottery?!"

Izuku understood. "Pro Heroes often have to create makeshift teams with other heroes that they aren't familiar with. There's no way you can prepare for unexpected situations, after all."

"I see!" Tenya exclaimed. "I apologize!"

All Might nodded. "Anyways, here we go! These are the teams!"

He pulled out two slips of paper at a time and announced the teams one after another.

"A-Team: Ochako and Izuku!"

"B-Team: Mezo and Shoto!"

"C-Team: Momo and Minoru!"

"D-Team: Denki and Tenya!"

"E-Team: Mina and Yuga!"

"F-Team: Koji and Rikido!"

"G-Team: Kyoka and Katsuki!"

"H-Team: Tsuyu and Fumikage!"

"I-Team: Toru and Mashirao!"

"J-Team: Eijirou and Hanta!"

Ochako smiled widely with delight. "What are the odds! This is great though, we'll make an awesome team!"

Izuku was positive he was going to pass out from excessive blood rushing to his face by the time the day ended. _Are you serious?! Really, what ARE the odds?!_

All Might then produced a pair of boxes, which were labeled as "Hero" and "Villain" respectively. He reached into the opening at the top and pulled out a pair of balls with a letter on each one. Letters A and D.

"D-Team will be the heroes! A-Team will be the villains!"

He was playing the bad guy, Izuku realized. He really hoped the irony in that was just terrible luck on his part.

All Might crossed his arms. "The villains will start inside the building. You'll each have five minutes to come up with a strategy, then the heroes will be able to enter the building as well! The rest of the class and myself will observe through surveillance cameras! Since this is practice training, feel free to fight it out without fear of injury! Of courses, if things get too extreme, I'll cut the exercise short, but other than that, no worries! Give it your best shot!"

* * *

Ochako whistled at the huge, rocket-shaped weapon they were supposed to protect. "Wow, that looks pretty realistic. So, how should we do this…?"

She sweat-dropped at the sight of Izuku intensely muttering to himself under his breath. "Tenya's Quirk is going to give them an edge in mobility, so we should definitely immobilize him first, but we also have to watch out for Denki's electrical Quirk because it can probably do a lot of damage in a short burst, so finding a way to counter his shock attacks is important, ideally something made of rubber or another material that blocks electricity…"

"Earth to Deku?" Ochako tapped his shoulder, causing the boy to jump and spin around.

"Wah! S-sorry!" He yelped.

"It's okay," she giggled. "So did you come up with a plan?"

Izuku glanced around the square-shaped room, which had a few large, steel crates, but not much more than that. The room was surrounded by windows and there were only two doors that led inside- one directly across from the weapon, and another on the opposite end. If they came through that, they'd have to loop around to reach the weapon. Izuku crossed his arms and tapped his fingers against his elbow in thought.

"I've got something in mind," he said at last. He wasn't stuttering now and his eyes gained a steady edge to them, surprising Ochako for a second. It was almost as though she was looking at a completely different person. "We'll need your Quirk to make it happen."

Ochako smiled. This new, confident Izuku was definitely someone she'd tag as a good partner in a situation like this. "I'm all ears."

* * *

Tenya and Denki were both surprised and slightly nervous that they hadn't encountered either Izuku or Ochako already. They'd searched the bottom four floors and were now approaching the top, where they suspected the weapon was being held at this point.

However, upon opening the primary door that led to the top floor, they found that it was completely blocked by two large, metal crates- one stacked on top of the other. They closed that door and doubled back to get to the second access point, hoping that it wouldn't be blocked off as well.

Surprisingly, it wasn't.

Denki grinned. "They forgot about the other door!"

Tenya glanced cautiously as they entered the fifth floor. Something about this wasn't sitting right with him. It was too easy.

They were running low on time, though. Just five minutes left out of the ten minutes they'd started with.

They walked around through the fifth floor and, eventually, found Izuku and Ochako standing in front of the weapon. The weapon itself was blocked off by stacks of metal boxes- the only access point to it was from the front, which Izuku and Ochako were guarding. Floating in front of them were three more metal boxes, two of which Izuku had his hands on. Green flames from his hands licked at the steel, creating a visible heat haze.

Honestly, it looked like a couple of kids had taken the cushions out of a mattress and made a play fort, but Tenya was certain there was more to it than that. Ochako was focusing on keeping the three boxes floating with her Quirk, but Izuku had an unnervingly calm look in his eyes.

He was up to something.

* * *

The rest of Class 1A and All Might were watching the confrontation from the surveillance room.

Eijirou raised an eyebrow at the defense Izuku and Ochako had constructed. "That's not gonna last very long. All they gotta do is tip 'em over or just run right past those two to reach the weapon."

"Denki should just electrocute them," Minoru added. His face took on a perverted grin. "I hope his electric attacks burn off Ochako's costume. That'd be sweet."

While several of the class glared at the teen in disgust, Katsuki's brow twitched and made a mental tally in his head. He was more focused on the fight, though, specifically Izuku. The way he was staring at Tenya and Denki…

"Deku wins," Katsuki said.

"Now, now," All Might held up a finger at the class. "We can't be certain of anything yet. Since they're pretty unfamiliar with each other's Quirks, it's a matter of how they can handle the situation as it develops."

"Nah," Katsuki shook his head, surprising All Might and the others with the certain calm in his tone. "Deku already won. Sonic the Hedgehog and Sparky are fucked."

Kyoka raised an eyebrow, disbelievingly. "How do you know that?"

"He's got that look in his eyes," Katsuku snapped, like it should've been obvious. "It means he's got a plan."

"You sound awfully certain of that," Momo said slowly, trying to understand why Katsuki was so positive of the outcome. "But if I'm honest, Izuku's Quirk doesn't really seem fit to this kind of situation. A highly destructive force that damages his own body is hardly effective here."

Katsuki suddenly fished out a small notebook from one of his pockets and opened it up, flipping through the pages. All Might sweat-dropped at the sight. "Katsuki…isn't that Izuku's? Did you steal that from him?"

"I borrowed it and I'll give it back later," Katsuku grumbled.

"Hey, there they go!" Hanta exclaimed.

* * *

Denki had made the first move.

"Well since they're both lined up nicely like that…" He grinned, letting electricity spark from his hand. "Stand back, Tenya!"

He leapt in front of his partner and let loose a huge bolt of electricity at Izuku and Ochako. As the bolt got closer, Izuku quickly moved the two floating boxes he had in his hands together as a shield.

Denki only grinned at the sight. "Electricity still runs through metal, y'know!"

Except it didn't.

Right before the lightning should have struck the metal crates, it fizzled out into nothing.

Denki's jaw dropped. "What?!"

Izuku lowered one of the boxes to look back at their opponents, a wide grin on his face.

* * *

In the surveillance room, Eijirou was just as dumbfounded. "What just happened?"

"They should've gotten blasted by that shock," Mina said, confusion clear in her voice.

Momo stared at the floating metal boxes, which Izuku had in his grasp to keep them in place, and realized that they were glowing cherry red. Her eyes widened. "Heat! He made a heat shield with his Quirk!"

"A _what?"_ Kyoka asked.

"A heat shield!" she exclaimed. "It's something I've read about in a physics book! If an object is heated up to a certain point, the heat can block electrical outputs that try to reach it! With that, an electric attack will just fizzle out!"

Hanta stared at her, then glanced at the screen, where Denki was trying again and again to shock the villain team, but to no avail. "Are you serious? Who even thinks of that?"

"Deku does, idiots," Katsuki snapped. He stopped flipping through the notebook and practically shoved the object towards Momo. "Look at that."

She took the offered book and blinked at the rough sketch of Tenya- or rather, a rough sketch of his Quirk and some rather advanced notes regarding it. Theories on how the Quirk worked in and out of combat, his own observations, the information Tenya had told them during their introductions, and much more were written all along three or four pages in great detail.

"Deku's got this annoying habit of making lots of notes about Pros and their Quirks," Katsuki told them. "He's good at taking a Quirk and breaking it down. He thinks of stuff most people wouldn't even consider."

"It's true that these are some really in-depth notes," Momo replied. "He's gone into a lot of detail for a Quirk he barely knows about, but given enough time, I'm sure most people in the class could do the same."

"The difference _is_ the time it takes," the other teen muttered. "How long do you think it took him to make those notes?"

"Well…" She frowned. "With this much detail and given all the unknown factors, I'd say at least an hour. It would take a while for anyone in this situation."

"It's the opposite," Katsuki had his arms crossed. He almost looked uncomfortable.

"He got all of that down in less than ten minutes."

Momo's eyes grew large. " _Ten_ …with the limited information we had? He made an analysis like _this_ in that short amount of time?"

"Deku's always been a huge nerd when it comes to Quirks, but because of that, he's stupidly fast when it comes to analyzing them," Katsuki said. "Strengths, weaknesses, environmental factors, combat responses, bolsters, counters, and even other things you wouldn't normally think about. He'll just start casually making plans on how to deal with a Quirk in a combat situation. It's never just one plan either- he'll throw in like three or four extras just for good measure in case the others fall through. I've watched this guy take a villain's Quirk he's never seen before on TV and break it down faster than the Pros who were trying to deal with him."

Most of the class was listening intently at this point, their eyes wide as they watched Izuku effortlessly counter Denki's attacks. The Electrification Quirk user was rapidly running out of juice and the villain team had barely moved. Tenya was trying to figure out how to deal with the situation it seemed, but it was difficult with Denki's indiscriminate electric blasts growing more and more sloppy as time went on and his cognitive functions dropped.

"When you're dealing with Deku, what you really need to watch out for isn't that Quirk he's got," Katsuki muttered. "It's that goddamn brain of his. You gotta rush him so fast that he doesn't have time to think. If he gets enough time to analyze your Quirk and come up with a counter, you're _fucked_."

* * *

Denki had finally exceeded his wattage limit, with just a minute to spare. The blonde had a stupid grin on his face and his thumbs were stuck up in the air, like he was signaling that he was okay. "Whee~!"

"Pfft!" Ochako couldn't stop herself from laughing at the sight of his face.

Tenya quickly moved Denki aside so that he could rush the villain team before time ran out. His Engine roared to life as he sped towards them. _I have to get to the weapon!_

Izuku shoved the boxes away and lunged at Tenya. "Ochako, drop them!"

"Roger!" She replied, releasing the two superheated metal boxes. She kept the last one, which was not heated, up in the air.

Tenya spun as he charged, twisting his body to kick at Izuku. "Fall, villain!"

Much to his shock, Izuku twisted as well and intercepted the kick as though he'd done it a thousand times. Using Tenya's own momentum, he kept twisting and smashed the now-unbalanced teen face-first into the floor. His armor diffused some of the impact, but it still jarred Tenya enough that he didn't notice Izuku immediately whip out the capture tape they'd been provided with.

He wrapped it around Tenya's leg in an instant and placed a hand on the other teen's back to keep him down. "One hero captured."

 _"_ _Tenya is out!"_ All Might's voice announced over the speakers.

Tenya clenched his fists in frustration. _How…Izuku just picked our team apart!_

Izuku sighed in relief. "Whew…y-you're really fast, Tenya…Oww…"

He winced in pain. The superheated metal had scorched his palms a little when he'd been using his Quirk on those boxes. On top of that, Tenya's powerful kick had totally knocked the wind out of him. He didn't think his ribs were cracked, but _damn_ that hurt.

Ochako walked over to the dumbed-down Denki, who was still swinging his arms with his thumbs up and going, "Whee~!" all the while. She couldn't help but laugh, even as she tied the capture tape around his wrist. "That's too funny! Hahaha!"

She released the last metal box that was still floating in the air after that. Izuku had suggested that they might need it in case the first plan fell through, but it appeared that they hadn't had to use it. She was still amazed by his strategic thinking- he'd more or less predicted how the fight would go right from the start.

A loud horn sounded, signaling the end of the exercise. _"Hero Team has been captured! Villain Team wins!"_

* * *

Katsuki sneered at his stunned classmates. "Told you, extras. Deku beat 'em like a drum."

All Might couldn't help but agree despite his decision to remain unbiased. Izuku had come up with and pulled off a strategy most Pros probably wouldn't have thought of. He was even more glad now that he'd picked Izuku as the successor to his power.

 _In another life, you would have made a terrifying villain. But you're a hero, young man. You're going to go places._

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the delay, got held up with my first exams of the semester (which I aced, btw). Anyway, it's 3AM where I'm at and I just want this chapter to get out there, so on to the review responses!**

 **(EDIT: I went back and corrected a few things once I woke up this morning, mostly just grammatical errors, but also the part where Ochako comments that Deku sounds like the japanese word for "don't give up". I forget sometimes that I'm writing under the assumption that the characters are speaking japanese lol. Sorry about that and thanks for pointing it out, FoxOnPie!)**

 **RyuAssassin: This is great but you do know that most people call Deku as Midoriya right? with exception for Uraraka and Bakugou who call him Deku or his mother who calls him Izuku.**

 **Midoriya Last Name**  
 **Izuku First/Given Name**  
 **But still you did a great job.**

 **-Yeah, I know. I probably should've gone that route, but I'm more familiar writing in this style where people are referred to by their first names. I know it's not technically correct give how they actually address each other in the manga and anime, but this is what I'm most familiar with, so it's what I'm going to use :)**

 **AnimeEmperor: This is turning into one awesome piece of work. You know, I think I have an opinion on what Izuku's Hero name should be, maybe something like "Jade Dragon".**

 **-I still haven't decided on his Hero Name yet, but anything's possible at this stage! I'm glad you enjoy the story!**

 **Hypernova: Great use of combining quirks now he has to deal with bakugo and the rest of 1-A hopefully Froppy doesn't figure out who his father is considering she tends to blurt out what comes to mind.**

 **-Lol Froppy might say whatever comes to mind, but she isn't like that. I think if she decided that the subject was delicate, she'd keep quiet and address it in a more private setting instead of in front of a lot of people.**

 **Addles28: MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**

 **-Wish granted!**

 **That's all for now! Don't forget to review and thanks for reading!**


	5. All PALS Must Die

_Chapter Five: All PALS Must Die_

Once Izuku, Ochako, Tenya, and Denki arrived back at the surveillance room following their mock battle, they were swarmed by several excited members of the class.

Eijirou was pumping his fists nonstop. "That fight was sick! All of your Quirks were so cool!"

"It's hard to believe you came up with a strategy like that to counter Denki's electricity," Hanta added. "I never would have thought of using a heat shield, or whatever Momo called it."

"That was awesome!" Mina exclaimed, bouncing to the front of the group. "I had you pegged as a quiet nerd, Izuku, but holy crap! I take it back, that was a Pro-class victory!"

The praise had him blushing furiously as he reverted back to his shy, introverted self. Tsuyu smiled at them. "You're _still_ a quiet nerd, but you definitely have good battle instincts. It was kind of like watching a strategy game. Ochaco played a great support role, too."

Ochaco smiled back somewhat bashfully. "Well, I didn't do much…Deku thought of that whole plan pretty much by himself. He probably would have found a way to win even on his own!"

"Huh? N-no way!" Izuku stammered. "Th-that plan wouldn't have worked at all without your Quirk! Honestly, there's no way I could've won this without you! I-I can't use my Quirk very well in battle yet, s-so I wouldn't have been able to move those boxes at all without your help! The only reason my Quirk was effective at all was because you were there! I'm pretty sure that my Quirk was actually the worst one suited for this!"

Momo nodded. "He's right. Certainly, Izuku was the strategist of the team, but it's only thanks to Ochaco that his plan was effective at all. Without her Zero Gravity Quirk, moving those heavy metal boxes efficiently would have been impossible for him. Support roles are just as important, if not more so, than lead roles. What's a plan without the capability to pull it off?"

It was Ochaco's turn to blush from the praise, but her smile widened further. "When you put it that way, I guess you're right. Thank you!"

All Might cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Well, Momo already went and said pretty much what I wanted to hear from everyone now that we can analyze the battle, but that's not to say there weren't any errors on the Villain Team's part. For one, you forgot to block the second door to the fifth floor."

"Oh, we did that on purpose," Izuku replied.

All Might blinked. "Really? Why?"

"Well, I knew that Tenya could move really fast with his Quirk," Izuku began, holding his hand up to his chin as he began to half-mutter, half-explain. "The door closest to us would've given him a clear line of sight to the weapon and I didn't know how fast he could go, so we blocked that one off in case he tried to sprint to us. I wanted to funnel them to the only other entrance to the fifth floor, but if we blocked them both off, they could have tried to break through either entrance and I didn't want to deal with that unknown factor, so we blocked off just one. I thought about trying to ambush them too, but since we blocked one door off, they would have expected that and it would have been really difficult to counter Denki's Quirk if we took the offensive, so I thought it'd be best to wait for them and act defensively."

Eijirou still looked perplexed. "That makes sense, but I still don't get something. Why was Ochako making three boxes float if Izuku was only using two for that heat shield thing?"

"That was one of my backup plans," he replied. "In case Tenya had some plan to build up speed and rush us faster than I could handle, I was gonna start throwing that box and the other ones blocking off the weapon at him. The ones I heated up could've hurt him too much. Plus if we had to throw lots of those boxes, they would've started taking up space on the floor and left him with less room to speed up. We didn't end up having to use it, but I didn't want to put all our eggs in one basket."

All Might was honestly surprised. He'd known Izuku was a smart kid and had the instincts of a fighter, but he hadn't expected this kind of strategic thinking from the normally timid teenager. But it was a pleasant surprise for him; it was almost as though he were listening to his old sidekick, Nighteye. That man was a thorough strategist as well. They'd gotten through many battles with almost effortless ease thanks to his brilliant mind.

He would have loved to hear more of the boy's strategy, but they were on a time crunch, so he kept things moving.

"Well, the Villain Team had an impressive run," he concluded. "But what about the Hero Team? Thoughts? What could they have done differently to emerge victorious?"

Momo raised her hand. "The most prominent error was that Denki shouldn't have just started attacking the villains the way he did. Firing a huge electric blast at an armed weapon like that was incredibly foolish. Not to mention that with the way Izuku and Ochaco were set up, it was obvious they had a plan ready. I believe Tenya recognized that since he stopped to think once the teams encountered each other, but Denki didn't give him an opportunity to think of a way around the villains' defenses. Moreover, he should have stopped attacking the moment he saw Izuku had a counter to his electric attacks. Instead, he wasted valuable time and energy trying to power through it. And by doing so, he left his teammate with no way to strike the villains. Even given Izuku's extensive plans, had they worked as a team, it's still possible they could have found a way around those defenses."

"Whee~!" Denki responded with a stupid grin, still giving everyone the thumbs-up. Kyoka and Ochaco were trying and failing to keep themselves from laughing at his face.

"Tenya on the other hand played his part more strategically than Denki. He was cautious and approached the situation carefully, but he was, as I stated earlier, prevented from acting thanks to his partner's own rash actions. However, his last rush was too hurried and easily predictable. There was still a minute on the clock- had he tried to plan a way to get by them while Denki was attacking, I feel he could have done a much better job during that last minute."

"But Izuku went and caught his kick anyway," Mashirao pointed out. "He was easily able to counter that. What else could Tenya have done?"

"Actually, if he'd sped up a little more, I think he might've completely blown me away," Izuku admitted, surprising Tenya. He smiled at the other teen honestly, lightly patting his own stomach with one hand and wincing a bit. "I mean it, you knocked the wind out of me with that kick. I can still feel it. If you'd sped up a little more, I might've been too stunned to react in time."

Momo set her hands on her hips, looking slightly smug (though not undeservingly given her thorough analysis) and nodded. "Exactly."

"I see," Tenya murmured. He'd removed his helmet and ran his hand through his dark hair. "So I reacted too quickly and rushed things. A full minute in combat is still a considerable amount of time, as well. I acted too rashly because I was concerned about running out of time. Thank you for the lesson! I shall not repeat this failure!"

He bowed his head rigidly, prompting Izuku to hold his hands up. "Don't worry about it, Tenya, it's just the first day of combat training, after all."

Katsuki glared at the other teen's palms, which were still burned from touching the superheated metal for too long. Despite his costume being fireproof, the heat had been too close and intense to prevent him from emerging completely unharmed. "Deku, you gotta quit fucking up your hands. How the hell are you gonna keep playing competitively if they're all busted up?"

Izuku blinked and looked at his palms, wincing at the burns. They weren't bad, but they stung and he would be lying if he said he wasn't uncomfortable. "I know, I just couldn't think of another way to counter Denki's Quirk. I didn't have much information about it other than that he could discharge electricity, so I came up with a way to block it the best way I could."

"Well for now, get yourself to Recovery Girl," All Might instructed him, passing the boy a slip of paper to go to the nurse. "Then come straight back here. Those wounds are mild- they won't take more than a few seconds for her to heal."

Izuku smiled brightly. "Yes, sir!"

He ran off then, leaving the rest of Class 1A with All Might, who reached into the Hero/Villain boxes once again. "Now then, who are the next lucky teams?!"

* * *

Izuku had made it back from Recovery Girl and her short lecture on overdoing things with his Quirk in time to catch the end of the fight immediately after his, which was Mina and Yuga as the Heroes against Momo and Minoru as the Villains. Well, one could hardly call it a fight.

Momo had used her Creation Quirk to booby trap the hell out of the doors and left Mina and Yuga with next to now way to get to the floor where the weapon was being held. Mina was currently trying to melt the door with her acid, but Momo had made some sort of material that was taking forever to burn through. Yuga wasn't much help- he tried shooting it with his laser for too long and got a stomach ache.

Izuku entered the room quietly and flinched when he saw Katsuki staring at the screen with veins swelling along his face and his right eyelid twitching. He seemed totally oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class had backed away from him several steps and shot him nervous looked every two seconds or so. He walked over and nervously tapped his friend's shoulder.

"What the hell is it?" Katsuki growled, turning slowly to glare at whoever had touched him. "Oh, it's just Deku."

"What's wrong? You look… _really_ pissed. Like..more than normal," Izuku asked lowly. He was actually a little frightened of the look on the blonde teen's face. Izuku recognized that face- it meant Katsuki was winding himself up into a time bomb that could explode at any second.

 _"_ _It's that little P.A.L,"_ Katsuki hissed through bared teeth, glaring back at the screen.

Izuku's eyes followed his to the screen just in time to see Minoru trying to cop a feel of Momo's ass, but she was apparently already aware of what he was doing and turned to glare at him, all the while extracting a piece of metal from the skin on her chest. Minoru sweat-dropped nervously and backed off, but his grin was still unashamedly lecherous.

"How many times has he tried to do that?"

"Five tries, even after All Might told him to knock it off," Katsuki answered, clenching his hand until little explosions starting popping off. "And he _succeeded_ **twice**."

Izuku's eyes gleamed with a strange light. "A decision has been made?"

"A decision has been made," Katsuki confirmed, eyelid twitching again as Minoru stared with a stupid grin at Momo on the screen.

The rest of the class, including All Might, weren't sure whether to be afraid of their odd behavior or not.

* * *

A little later, after each team completed the exercise and were briefed by All Might, (who ran off at breakneck speeds) the girls found themselves in their locker room getting changed out of their hero costumes.

"Alright!" Mina suddenly exclaimed as she started to button her school shirt back on. She looked around the room of changing girls with a wide grin. "So, what are the first impressions on the boys?"

Kyoka shrugged her jacket off and shot the pink-skinned girl a wary look. "Why?"

"Isn't that obvious? Which ones do y'all think are hot?"

"Let's all just agree to permanently condemn Minoru," Momo grumbled a shower stall around the corner. She was trying to clean off the revolting feeling of that little rat touching her ass. Twice.

Ochako nodded, her cheek puffing up angrily. "Of course! That was so wrong!"

"Hey Ochako, have you ever tried making something float up into space?" Toru asked innocently as she fixed her tie up.

"Not a person," she replied, then paused for a second. "Yet."

"If he tries to cop a feel on me, I'm dissolving him into a puddle," Mina grinned nastily. She clapped her hands together. "But forget about that little perv for a second and go back to the main subject! The boys! Who's hot and who's not?!"

Tsuyu shrugged. "They're all okay, I guess. Can you be more specific? It'll take forever to discuss them all."

"Fine," Mina pouted slightly. "The stars of the show today, then. What about Shoto?"

"I thought he was pretty cool even though he froze my feet during our match," Toru said. "He's really calm and collected even in the heat of battle. I don't know how we could possibly have beaten him! He's way too strong!"

"He is one of the two students in our class who got into U.A on recommendations," Tsuyu agreed. "It's to be expected of him. Momo was amazing as well even with her partner doing nasty things throughout her match."

"I guess he's kinda cool," Mina eventually decided. "He seemed pretty aloof, though. I got that loner vibe from him."

Momo came out of the showers wrapped in a towel and reached for her school clothes. "I'm sure he'll open up more as the year goes on. It's only the second day, after all. Izuku and Koji barely got through the introductions this morning, remember?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mina grinned. "The wild card Izuku! Who saw him coming?! I thought he was just a sweet little nerd at first, but he pulled that badass plan out with Ochako and won like it was nothing!"

"He surprised everyone during the Entrance Exam, too," Ochako added while tying her shoe laces. "He destroyed that Zero Pointer robot with one punch!"

"Wait, what?!" Kyoka's jaw dropped. "The big thing that was knocking over buildings you mean?! _Izuku_ destroyed that in a single punch?!"

"Yeah, it was amazing!" Ochako exclaimed, leaving out the part where he saved her. "I mean, he blew up his arm and legs, but he thrashed it!"

Tsuyu held a finger up to her lips. "His Quirk is really strange. He uses fire, but he's got that superhuman strength, too. How does that work?"

"I believe is similar to Katsuki's ability to generate an explosive force," Momo replied. "But it seems as though Izuku can't control it nearly as well. From what I've seen, Katsuki's control over his explosions is much more refined than Izuku's is. It seems as though Izuku can use his flames well enough, just not to make things explode. There's probably some kind of backlash to it that his body can't handle."

Toru clapped her hands together. "His analysis skills were crazy good, too! Guess that nerdy side came in handy!"

"I didn't expect Katsuki to have so much faith in his plan, but I'll admit I was wrong," Kyoka added. "What's up with them, anyway? Katsuki treats everyone else in class like garbage except for Izuku."

"I think they're friends from middle school or something," Ochako commented. "I saw them going to the Entrance Exam together and they were walking to the station yesterday until Tenya and I caught up with them."

"Or maybe…" Mina's smile became pure mischief as she covered her wide grin with one hand. "They're in looooove!"

Toru gasped. _"You think?!"_

"I can make _anything_ relate to love!" Mina laughed maniacally. "Watch! It'll seem real before you know it!"

"Don't jinx it," Ochako smiled nervously. "I think Deku is probably one of the better guys in our class. It'd be a shame if he was already taken, y'know?"

"Ohhhh," Mina spun towards her instantly. "Rejecting the possibility and a nickname already?! _Could it be…?!"_

"NO!" Ochako yelped, waving her hands at her friend. God, she should've seen that coming! "Th-that's not how it is! I barely know him!"

"Knock it off, Mina," Kyoka agreed, though she smiled in amusement. "There's no way to tell if any of the guys are dating material yet or not. For all we know, Katsuki could be the best option in the class."

Momo winced. "Okay, don't jinx _that_. I know Katsuki is at least…tolerable towards Izuku, but he's still unbelievably rude towards the rest of us."

"That's putting it lightly," Kyoka grumbled. "I barely got to do anything during our fight! I just told him where Rikido and Koji were and then he ordered me to stay put until he beat them! I mean, we won, but still!"

"Katsuki is strong, but he's always angry, so I can't imagine him ever being that popular," Tsuyu added. "At least we know he can cool off a bit though. He's not a total jerk to Izuku, so maybe he'll warm up to us given time?"

"Who knows," Kyoka huffed. "I'm certainly not going to make an effort with him anytime soon."

Mina grinned. "There are a few other guys who did pretty well today, but those three were definitely in the spotlight. We'll have to chat about the rest later!"

"Sure," Toru agreed, slinging her backpack over one shoulder on her way out of the locker rooms. "Time to go!"

The girls left the lockers as a group and went outside to get back to the main building where homeroom was. They had just gotten outside and were about to reach the corner when a voice stopped them.

Izuku was waiting by the corner and was pointing in their direction, but he was looking away. "Hey, Minoru! There's a window to look into the girl's locker room right over here!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! YOU ROCK, IZUKU!"

Toru squeaked in disbelief. "Wait, what?!"

Mina's head whipped up to inspect the wall of the building. "There's a window like that?!"

Kyoka was giving Izuku a disappointed look, though he hadn't yet noticed them. "This is why you can't just outright decide if someone is dating material or not…Izuku's just another pervert!"

Izuku suddenly threw both of his arms straight up in the air and shouted. "GOAL!"

Minoru jumped into view briefly as he reached the corner, but before he could speak a work or even look towards the girls, there was a blur of motion behind him followed by a ruthless kick as one Katsuki Bakugo punted the undersized pervert right in the balls for all he was worth. An unspeakable crime was committed to the code of brothers with a furious scream that carried absolutely no remorse for said atrocity.

 ** _"_** ** _DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

A sonic boom ripped through the air as Minoru was sent flying over the grounds, past the huge building at the entrance to U.A, straight through no less than four trees, and bounced roughly along the ground before coming to an abrupt stop when he hit the thick, steel wall surrounding the campus. And there he stopped, suspended about six feet off the ground by his own sticky hair, unconscious and drooling blood.

"The kick is good!" Izuku lowered his arms and turned to inspect Katsuki's work, holding one hand over his eyes to see better. He whistled lowly as he pulled out his phone. "That might be a new record."

"Heh! I figured it would be since he's way smaller than the rest of those goddamn P. I've killed before!" Katsuki grinned viciously. "What's my score?!"

"One sec," Izuku replied, tapping his phone and pointing it towards where Minoru had ended up to get the final distance. "You made him go…nine hundred and fourteen meters! It's a new record!"

Katsuki fell to his knees, throwing both middle fingers towards Minoru as he screamed victoriously. "HELL YEAH! GIT FUCKED YOU LITTLE PERV!"

All the while they were totally oblivious to the girls, who were still picking their jaws up off the ground after witnessing the gift of god that was Katsuki's perfect kick into Minoru's family package.

"I take back what I said about Izuku," Kyoka told her friends as soon as she was able to form a coherent sentence. "That boy is a treasure and no one can tell me otherwise."

Ochako was covering her mouth to hide her giggles. Izuku and Katsuki were still hyped over the latter's god-tier kick and were dramatically celebrating the achievement. "I knew there was no way Deku would be like that. I guess he and Katsuki were putting Minoru in his place for getting all perverted with us."

"Agreed," Mina sighed happily, still holding her phone up- she'd reflexively pulled it out to snap a long stream of photos of Minoru flying through the air. "I don't think I've ever seen something so beautiful in my life."

"I almost feel bad," Tsuyu admitted, then bluntly added. "I don't, though."

"Kyoka might've jinxed us," Toru said. "Katsuki _does_ have more than one good bone in his body. It's just small. Like, his pinky finger."

"I'll take that pinky over Minoru any day," Momo told her. "I must do something to repay him for that excellent kick."

"Let's just all agree for now," Mina stuffed her phone in her pocket as the girls watched Izuku and Katsuki walk off back to homeroom. "Those two get top marks for today in our books."

* * *

When they got back to homeroom, most of the class was already there. Katsuki still looked far too proud of himself, but he was being nicer than normal because of it. There was a group of other students hovering around him and Izuku, the latter of which was making notes in his notebook again and occasionally looking up to talk to them.

"Wait, you were the one who blasted Minoru into the wall?!" Eijirou exclaimed.

"Who else was gonna punt that little P.A.L where the sun doesn't shine?!" Katsuki laughed.

Hanta visibly winced. "Geez, does the bro code mean nothing to you?"

Tenya was chopping his hand towards the unashamed teen rapidly. "Violence towards our classmates is not condoned in this campus under any circumstances besides hero training! Why have you done such a thing?!"

"Who cares why, that kick was awesome!" Mina bounced over to the table with the other girls close behind her.

"Fuck yeah, it was," Katsuki certainly didn't need his pride stoked any farther, but dammit he deserved it right now.

"By the way, I've been wondering," Kyoka tilted her head in confusion. "What on earth is a P.A.L? You've called Minoru that a few times, but I don't think it means he's your friend."

"Oh, it's an acronym we made up," Izuku spoke up and smiled at them a little bashfully. "It means Pervert At Large. Katsuki and I used to play hero together when we were kids, but that was too childish in middle school, so we found a different way to play…"

"And that way would be…?" Momo asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Find the perverts at school, assess their crimes, and," little explosions popped off in Katsuki's palm, his huge grin darkening evilly. "Deal out the appropriate punishments."

"What are you, vigilantes against perverts?" Toru sweat-dropped.

"It was for a good cause," Ochako giggled. "Let's just call it early hero work."

"Alright class, quiet down and get in your seats," Mr. Aizawa walked into the room, only to give Katsuki a blunt stare the moment he came through the door. "Mr. Bakugo…I heard someone scream "die" and then saw Minoru go flying across campus and into the wall. He's still there, actually. Was that you?"

"Damn _fucking_ straight it was," Katsuki's shit-eating grin held a disturbing resemblance to All Might's.

"Detention, Mr. Bakugo."

Katsuki's grin persisted regardless. "I regret nothing."

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, another chapter down! This one is shorter than the last few, but it's mostly a filler chapter with some humor- next one will be more training for the kids and specifically Izuku! We won't be jumping into the USJ event quite yet! In any case, on to the review responses!**

 **GotTheMovesLikeYaeger: I love how everything panned out so far, but some critisms are necessary for advancement in ability.**

 **First, it is both creepy and weird how close you stick to cannon in spots. Sometimes the dialogue feels weird because one feels like your style, but another feels like cannons. It doesn't hurt to stray from dialog, especially because most people know it pretty well.**

 **Second, while you did a good job describing Izuku's quirk limits, it doesn't feel smooth and i had to reread it to understand it better. In a good way you could do this, is through having izuku kind of list it off in a narrative way. Having mutliple characters talking about it would make for a goos thought section, where the reader processess the info you gave them, while kind of showing them how it could be used.**

 **Third and more personal preference, i am scared of bakugo's relationship with deku. It feels unnaturally praising, especially during that last bit (which, mind you i enjoyed immensely). I also fear for another gay ff, because we already have enough of those. Anyways i loved the chapter, keep it up!**

 **-Criticisms are necessary for any advancement! I know that it was really close to canon early on, and I do regret that, but I didn't want the early stage to be drastically different. It does change a lot from this point on though, and you'll see what I mean next chapter. Believe me, I've made the mistake of staying too close to canon for my Fairy Tail series (though that was the first series I wrote) and I still wish I had the motivation to go back and rewrite the whole thing. Alas, I have better things to work on like this fic and the others! Originality will be a big focus from here on out!**

 **Izuku's Quirk hasn't yet been fully explained I know, and here's why: First of all, Izuku doesn't fully understand his own Quirk yet since he's only just now starting to use it again for the first time in seven years. I will explain more about the Quirk soon enough, I assure you. He doesn't actually know his own limits yet and he's going to find out where they are the hard way at some point.**

 **Bakugo's relationship with Deku here is more of a brotherly bond, which I'll touch on in a few chapters. They've grown up together and act like a team because of their interest in competitive video games. More on that later, I don't want to spoil too much! As for the possibility of gay characters...who knows? I don't think I've ever actually written a gay character before (and that honestly kind of bothers me for some reason? Like why haven't I done that yet?), so I might have to change that somewhere in this story ;) Lol but no, as far as Bakugo and Deku are concerned, they're close, but they're like brothers. Bakugo is confident in Deku's strategy skills because he's seen him pull some crazy stuff before. You'll see what I mean later.**

 **inFamousSlyMonkey: Congratulations on passing your first exams :) Kacchan didn't destroy the costume head. Now Deku's still got the stupid thing (I know it's a nice little homage to All Might, but seriously they do nothing, make him look like a rabbit, and in a fight his opponent can grab onto them)**

 **Other than that loved the chapter.**  
 **Especially how even with two powerful quirks you're making Deku most powerful ability his mind :)**  
 **Kacchan still an angry man, but not overly so as I feel in the anime. You can actually see he's a decent person under the anger.**  
 **Poor Momo stuck with Minoru, I wonder what P.A.L means and what all this totting up will lead to.**

 **Look forward to the next chapter :)**

 **-Actually, I plan to address the bunny ears to his costume next chapter XD It'll be fun! Deku's got a lot of work to do before he can really master those Quirks and make them into one flawless ability! Kacchan will always be angry, but his** **decency is something you'll see more of in this story. Sort of. He's still totally an ass most of the time lmao.**

 **Vengeance for Momo. She is too good and pure for the perverts of the world.**

 **FoxOnPie:** **The chapter was fine, but when Uraraka was talking about why she thought "Deku" was a cool name, why did she say that it sounded like the Japanese word for "don't give up"? They're Japanese people speaking Japanese, so shouldn't she just say that it sounds like the WORD for "don't give up"?**

 **-I saw that and I addressed it! Thank you for pointing that out! I'm sorry about that little mistake, it was three am when I wrote that and honestly sometimes I still forget that the characters I'm writing are actually speaking Japanese that has been translated into english lol. Thank you again!**

 **Gokuu the Carrot: Heyo, ya got a new reviewer! Gotta say, this is a real good fic. I gotta say I'm excited for ch 5!**

 **-Your name is pure gold and the bunny ears of Izuku's costume appreciate it more than anything in the world XD But I'm glad you like the story! Stay tuned for more!**

 **That's it for now! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**

 **P.S- For all my readers commenting about when I plan on updating my other story, Challenger, I ask that you be patient with me and don't post reviews on my other stories asking about it. I know that I haven't updated in a while, but I'm struggling with writer's block on it and am trying to get past that to deliver the content you all deserve. By no means will I abandon that story (I have huge plans for it, dammit XD) but I think writing other stories right now will help me get over writer's block sooner than later. I just need to keep my creative juices flowing. I'm sorry for the** **wait, but it'll be worth it!**


	6. Control

_Chapter Six: Control_

Their third day of class started with an unexpected and (for most, rather unwelcome) surprise; the media had discovered that All Might was teaching at U.A and had come in force to investigate. The reporters couldn't actually get into U.A without the school's permission, so they parked themselves outside by the door and interviewed everyone they could with single-minded ferocity.

Izuku jumped when he was singled out by a woman who was probably in her mid-twenties. "What kind of lessons does All Might teach?!"

"E-eh?!" Izuku recoiled from the mic that was practically shoved in his face. "I-I-I umm…"

"Geez, everyone's so noisy," Katsuki grumbled, grabbing Izuku by the back of his collar and dragging him along to the school.

The reporter flashed towards him instead. "What do you think of All Might- wait, aren't you that kid from the Sludge villain incident?!"

A vein bulged in Katsuki's forehead, prompting a snarl. "Fuck off!"

From what Izuku could see as he let Katsuki drag him away from the chaos, Tenya was taking the whole interview thing pretty well- too well, in fact. The reporter questioning him looked annoyed by his long-winded and over-the-top answers. Elsewhere, another reporter had cornered a group consisting of Ochako, Tsuyu, Kyoka, and Mina, all four of which looked more than a little eager to get the hell out of there.

They were all saved when Mr. Aizawa showed up, his exhausted and scruffy appearance causing many of the cameramen to cut the feed almost instantly. The guy just wasn't suited to being on the news.

"All Might is off-duty at the moment. You are disturbing our students and the classes here," Aizawa told them bluntly, waving his hand as if to shoo them away. "I need to ask you to politely vacate the premises."

He glanced at his students, who eagerly ran over to him and then into the school, before turning away from the reporters. It nearly started an uproar of frustrated and unsatisfied questions.

The reporter who had interrogated Izuku and Katsuki puffed up her cheek angrily. "Geez, just a little time is enough! Come on, send All Might out- "

"No, wait!" An older reporter shouted as she walked too close to the entrance gate.

With a loud slamming of metal, the gate crashed shut, providing several layers of impenetrable steel between the reporters and the school. The woman who had tripped the sensor fell on her rear in shock.

"It's the U.A Barrier," the reporter who had tried to warn her explained with a sigh. "That's what we call it, anyways. Without a staff or student ID, the doors snap shut automatically. There are even sensors all over the campus on the off chance someone actually breaks in."

"That's so lame!" She retorted, rising back to her feet and dusting herself off. "Why are they going so far to keep us out? They haven't even given us a cheap lie or some boring information to report!"

While the media raged in front of the barred gate, a man dressed in a long, black sleeve hoodie and worn out pants behind them watched the scene in silence. Tired-looking red eyes gazed at the school with malevolence.

* * *

"Pick a Class President," Aizawa told them the moment everyone had settled in their seats. "I don't care how you decide it, just get it done before the period is up. We don't have much to discuss in Homeroom today. Most of what we'll be doing is going to be handled during Hero Studies later."

Instantly, pretty much the whole class was up and clamoring for themselves to be president. Even Izuku wouldn't deny he was kind of interested in the idea, but he was really nervous about it, as well.

"Enough!" Tenya suddenly interrupted. "This is no small decision that can be made just because you want to! The Presidency is a sacred office that only the chosen may find themselves tasked with! Therefore! It should be decided by a democratic vote!"

"…he says with his hand raised up as high as the rest of us," Mina finished, grinning at the sight of the young man with his back ramrod straight and his hand held high in the air.

Tsuyu held a finger to her chin. "It's a bit early to have developed any trust in each other, isn't it? Everyone will probably just vote for themselves."

"Is that not why the person who earns multiple votes will be truly worthy of the task?!" Tenya demanded. "If their charisma is such that they can earn the trust of many this early amongst class relations, they must possess the qualities worthy of Class President!"

Kyoka sighed and leaned back in her seat. "Sure, why not? Let's vote guys. I, Robot isn't going to let up on us anytime soon if we don't."

The votes were made anonymously so no one could be singled out for their vote, but by the end of the next ten minutes, all the votes were tallied and written up on the blackboard. The scores were as such:

Izuku Midoriya: 5 votes

Momo Yaoyorozu: 3 votes

Katsuki Bakugo: 2 votes

Eijirou Kirishima: 1

Mashirao Ojirou: 1

Minoru Mineta: 1

Koji Kouda: 1

Mezou Shoji: 1

Denki Kaminari: 1

Hanta Sero: 1

Fumikage Tokoyami: 1

Rikido Sato: 1

Yuga Aoyama: 1

Needless to say, Izuku was a little happy, extremely shocked, and absolutely terrified from the results.

"I GOT FIVE VOTES?! HOW?!" Izuku half-squeaked, half-screamed.

"Who the hell voted for you!?" Katsuki demanded, flabbergasted.

Hanta looked at the blonde teen with a stunned look. "More like who the hell voted for _you_ of all people?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Kyoka made a show of plugging one of her earphone jacks into her phone and played some music, ignoring the rest of the class. _I'm only doing something nice for him this once because he kicked Minoru's ass yesterday and won the exercise for us. I'm still kind of glad he didn't win, though._

In the back of the classroom, Ochako was whistling innocently as she studied the wall. _It'd probably be really scary if Katsuki found out I voted for Izuku…_

 _He's waaay nerdy and shy, but he lined up that kick for Katsuki so perfectly yesterday that I don't care,_ Mina grinned to herself as she watched Izuku flail in a panic. _I'd rather vote for someone who looks out for us and_ ** _isn't_** _a dick. Plus, he's kinda cute!_

 _I couldn't decide between voting for Momo or Izuku, so I just flipped a coin,_ Tsuyu thought. She was satisfied with the result since they were both President and Vice President.

"Guys, why didn't you vote for ME?!" Minoru whined to his fellow males. "Didn't you hear my policies for all the girls to expose at least thirty centimeters of thigh?!"

"Yeah, and we also heard you hit the wall yesterday when Katsuki punted you like a thousand yards from across campus," Mashirao sweat-dropped. "No thank you, I choose life."

"Also, that's disgusting," Rikido added. "No one wants that."

"Learn some common decency before you try to do something like become Class President," Fumikage told him.

Minoru waved his fists in the air desperately. "All of you are so gay!"

"And they're _way_ smarter than your dumb ass."

Minoru felt death itself touch him as Katsuki Bakugo's hand lay itself upon his shoulder with false kindness. "I haven't had to murder a P.A.L twice before, but I wonder how far I could blast you from here…we're on the third floor and there are fewer obstacles on the way to whatever level of hell you land in this time. Should I try it…?"

"Y-you wouldn't dare…" Minoru squeaked, looking over his shoulder and nearly pissing himself at the monstrous grin on Katsuki's face. "You got detention for it last time!"

"And it was worth every second," Katsuki cackled, his eyes becoming almost deranged. The hand on Minoru's shoulder made a fews tiny explosions, causing the short teen to squeal in panic. "Go on, say another perverted thing. I'm _begging_ you."

"NO! I CHOOSE LIFE!" Minoru screamed, diving under the nearest desk.

Katsuki looked a little disappointed. "Ugh, fine. You get off with a warning this time."

"Normally I'd call you out for bullying, but what Minoru is doing is blatant sexual harassment, so I'll overlook it this time," Mina commented with a smirk. Katsuki merely grunted in response.

Tenya had his fists clenched in frustration upon his desk. "Zero votes…It's only fair since I insisted upon the sacredness of the role…"

"You didn't even vote for yourself despite wanting the job so badly," Hanta sweat-dropped. "What's up with that?"

Mr. Aizawa got out of his sleeping back and stood up, giving the class the final announcement. "So then it's President Midoriya and Vice-President Yaoyorozu."

Now standing at the front of class, Izuku looked like he would panic at any second. "A-are you s-s-serious?"

Momo sighed. "It was pretty close."

"That's it for Homeroom today," Aizawa told them. "Do your best in your other classes and prepare yourselves for the trials that await you in in Heroics Training later."

* * *

Izuku sighed, poking at his rice with his fork as he considered what had gone on that morning. Around him, Tenya, Ochako, Tsuyu, and Mina were also eating, though more enthusiastically than he was.

"What's the matter, Deku?" Ochako asked after she swallowed a bite of her lunch. "You look kinda worn out."

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing!" he said quickly, snapping out of his little mental checkout. "I was just wondering if I've really got what it takes for this whole Class President thing…"

Mina elbowed his arm playfully. "Sure you are!"

Tenya nodded. "You'll be fine. You've got the guts and snap judgement when it counts, Izuku. That's why I voted for you."

 _So one of the votes was you!_ Izuku gave the other teen a perplexed look, shaking his head before leaning his chin on his palm. "That's another thing, how did I get five votes?"

"Well I assume you voted for yourself, plus Tenya voted for you," Tsuyu held a finger up, adding more as she listed off names. "I flipped a coin between you and Momo since I couldn't decide and you won that flip, so three. Mina voted for you, too."

"Wait, what?!" Izuku whipped his head to gape at the two girls and his jaw fell open. "You two voted for me?!"

"Duh," Mina snickered and poked his freckles with a pink finger, causing the teen to blush furiously. "You set up one hell of a kick for Katsuki yesterday to stop Minoru from doing perverted things to us! I saved one of those pictures as my screensaver, even. But Katsuki is still too much of an ass for us to vote for him. That's how you got my approval. Ochako too, right?"

"Eh?!" Izuku spun back to Ochako, who half-choked on her rice when Mina called her out.

"I-I-I-I," Ochako managed to swallow the bite down and sighed in relief for a second. She grinned bashfully and rubbed the back of her head. "Um, yeah. Guilty! Ehehe…"

Izuku wasn't sure what shocked him more. The fact that he'd somehow managed to become Class President, or the fact that more than half of the votes for him came from teenage girls his age. Seriously, he barely knew anything about them! They were an alien species to him!

"But I'm surprised you didn't vote for yourself, Tenya!" Ochako said hurriedly in an effort to swing the attention away from her. "You wanted to be Class President so badly! You've got the glasses look down, too."

Izuku sweat-dropped. _That's not exactly a quality we should be using to choose a Class President._

"I merely followed my own judgement on the matter," Tenya replied. "Besides, even if I had voted for myself, the rest of your votes would have assured Izuku the Presidency."

Suddenly, the room was filled the the ringing of an alarm, causing the five of them to jump. An announcement rang over the speakers. _Security level three has been breached. Students, please promptly evacuate._

Tenya's head jerked towards one of the nearby upperclassmen. "What's security level three?"

"It means someone's infiltrated the school grounds! This hasn't happened in three years! We gotta hurry out of here!"

The whole lunchroom immediately became a scene of mass hysteria as students scrambled to get out. Izuku knew there'd be no getting out if they got swept into that crowd, so he pushed aside his lunch and jumped onto the table to get a better look around. His eyes locked onto the windows nearby, spotting Present Mic and Mr. Aizawa standing outside. They were facing a crowd of reporters, who were clamoring at the pair of Pros for All Might.

Izuku blinked in disbelief at the sight. _The press got into the school? How?_

He spun around, trying to figure out how to settle the panicking students. If it was just the press, then this whole mass hysteria thing wasn't worth it and would only get someone hurt. Izuku tried to speak up, but it came out as a squeak. "H-hey! Everybody calm down! I-it's just the news…"

No one heard him, not even his friends, who had taken a point from him and were standing on their seats. Tenya was snapping at the other students to form an orderly line, but it was no good. Everyone was panicking.

 _It's no good…how do I get their attention?!_ Izuku wondered frantically.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Albeit a crazy idea, but…he took a deep breath and clenched his fists tightly.

When in doubt. Speak Katsuki.

 **"** **DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!"**

Everyone in the room froze at the scream and spun towards the source; one very red-faced Izuku, standing on the table with both hands clapped over his mouth. He couldn't believe he'd gotten the nerve to do that, but he did his best to act as soon as he got their attention. "I-I-It's just the press! L-look!"

He pointed at the window, prompting the rest of the students to look over and confirm for themselves that he was right. The moment they all started figuring it out, Izuku jumped off the table and did his best to hide. _Holy crap, that was waaaay too much!_

"Not exactly what I'd call a great way of getting attention, but…" Mina grinned a little. "Nice!"

"Why are you hiding now?" Tsuyu asked him bluntly.

Izuku was sweating, his face still cherry red. "I-I've never yelled at a bunch of people l-like that b-before…it's scary."

Ochako put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. "You sounded like Katsuki for a second, there."

Tenya chopped a hand towards them. "While I applaud Izuku for settling the hysteria, we must still evacuate! Press or not, we still have evacuating instructions!"

"H-he's right," Izuku said, fanning his face. "L-let's go."

Mina smiled and pat him on the shoulder, causing him to tense up again. "Good going, Mr. Scaredy Class Prez!"

* * *

Once the reporters had been dealt with, the rest of the day went by as usual. As soon as it was time for Heroics Class, they dressed up in their costumes and made their way out to the entrance to the same training field as yesterday for the battle trials.

Mr. Aizawa and All Might both were waiting for them. The former of the two Pros cleared his throat and started explaining the lesson. "Right, this is going to be somewhat similar to the Entrance Exam. There will be combat robots all over the city, but this time your job is going to be about working as a team. Yesterday you got to work together in pairs- this time you will be working as a whole class. On occasion, Pros have to work in large groups. This is meant to simulate that kind of scenario. We'll be doing this exercise today and tomorrow, followed by Rescue Training on Friday. I want you all to keep in mind that this is merely a rough outline of much more advanced training for later."

"Your task is simple; eliminate as many of the enemy 'villains' as possible by working together as a team. You should also focus on keeping the amount of damage done to buildings to a minimum. In the field, leaving behind destroyed buildings is obviously not ideal. I'm looking at you, Katsuki."

Katsuki looked away from them all, slightly red in the face. "Shut up."

"I'll be watching with Recovery Girl in case things get out of hand," Aizawa went on. "Oh, and one more thing. Izuku, you're not participating in this training today. You're working with All Might."

"EHHHH?!" Pretty much the entire class exclaimed, including Izuku.

"Wait, Izuku's getting lessons from All Might?!" Eijirou's jaw was hanging open.

"Why just him?" Mezo questioned.

"Yeah, why's the Class President getting extra lessons from the world's greatest hero?! Favoritism much?! I think we need a better President!" Minoru tried to convince the others to join his side, but to no avail.

Aizawa sighed tiredly. "Would you lot quiet down? We're wasting time."

The class quieted (albeit reluctantly) as All Might took center stage. "I'm sure you're all wondering why young Izuku is getting extra lessons separate from the rest of you, but it's not what you think. I'm not training him personally or giving him special privileges. He's getting…shall we call it a corrective course?"

"Corrective course?" Tenya echoed. "Did he do something wrong?"

"He blew his body up twice in as many days with his Quirk," Aizawa replied bluntly. "That's the problem. His main method of fighting with his Quirk critically damages both himself because he lacks control, and could endanger the lives of anyone fighting him. That's where All Might comes in. He's an expert on Quirk control."

"How?" Denki asked. "I mean, no offense, but all you do is punch and kick stuff."

"No offense taken, young Denki! But it's a bit more complicated than that!" All Might answered. "When I use my Quirk, I have to gauge the amount of power I put into it very carefully. For example, against a giant robot, I can go full throttle and blow it away! But if I used that same level of power on a person, what would happen?"

A few faces paled at that thought. All Might nodded gravely. "You've guessed. Yes, as gruesome as it is to say, I'd probably kill them with that kind of force. In order to avoid that, I must gauge the degree of power I release with each attack carefully. Too much can kill a person. Too little might not be enough to capacitate my opponent. Power is just power without the finesse to guide it properly. Young Katsuki and young Shoto are good examples of this!"

Aizawa grunted. "The two of them have a high power capacity, but they have the control to manage it well without overdoing things. For the time being, that's a skill Izuku lacks, so All Might is going to grill him until he doesn't blow himself up anymore. But that brings me to another thing I need to talk to you all about."

"Do any of you have trouble controlling your Quirks?" He asked. "I know it might be embarrassing to admit or perhaps you think you can control it in time, but I need to know right now before we get into any more serious training. If someone loses control and we have an accident, it can be forgiven, but I won't be the one picking you up if you get upset with yourself. Is that clear?"

The class was silent for a few seconds before one teen raised his hand.

All Might looked at him, still smiling. "Young Fumikage."

"It's somewhat situational," he began a little quietly. "But on occasion, my Quirk, Dark Shadow, has been known to run wild. I'd rather explain it more in private."

"I understand," All Might gave him a thumbs up. "Anyone else?"

"Um…" Ochako rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I-I don't know if it's because I lack control or not, but if I use my Quirk on myself for too long, I get really nauseous…"

"Hmm, that could be because you haven't trained your Quirk enough yet, but I would still like to see it for myself," All Might replied. "Is there anyone else?"

When no one responded, All Might set his hands on his hips. "In that case, young Fumikage and young Ochako will meet with me after class ends today to discuss their Quirks. You'll likely have a training session with myself and young Izuku tomorrow. If that's all, then I'll leave you to Mr. Aizawa! Young Izuku, you're with me!"

Izuku dipped his head quickly and chased after the Pro as he walked off. "Y-yes, sir!"

* * *

They ended up going to TDL, the place that Izuku had been brought before school started to show his Quirk to the teachers. All Might led him inside and cleared his throat, immediately getting the boy's attention.

"I'm sorry that I singled you out from the rest of your classmates today," All Might began. "But I felt it would be unwise to hold off training you to use One for All any longer. Recovery Girl gave me more than a few choice words when you destroyed your finger the other day."

"S-sorry about that," Izuku mumbled. "I was just..desperate."

"It's fine. It's my fault for holding your training off for so long," the Pro reassured him. "But that stops now. We're going to get you to the point where you can use One for All safely. The easiest way to do that, in my experience, is through combat."

Izuku paled. "Wait…y-you mean, like I have to f-fight y-you?!"

"I'll go easy on you," All Might said gently, turning to face him. "Today at least, I won't strike back. There's no point in beating you black and blue if you can't use your power properly yet."

That wasn't exactly the most reassuring thing in the world, and Izuku still had a few concerns. "W-wait! What about what you said to the rest of class? If I can't control One for All and hit you full power, then…"

"You won't hurt me," All Might lifted one huge hand to tousle the teenager's curly hair. "Fortunately for us, One for All comes with a sort of mental 'training wheels' for new users."

"Training wheels?"

"Yes. When you use One for All against a person for the first time, there's a tendency to think that you don't want to kill that person. One for All usually responds to that and your body sets it to a 'low power setting' that you should be able to handle without destroying yourself."

Izuku blinked and began to mutter to himself. "I see, so it's kind of like the mental restraints the brain puts on the human body to prevent it from destroying itself with the full capability of its muscles…"

All Might cut him off before Izuku could fully nerd out. "That's the theory. But the idea is that you'll eventually get a grasp of that 'low power setting' whenever you attack until you can use it at will. We'll continue training here until you get it down. Also, we'll be working on your own Quirk as well. Ideally, I'd like to get you to the point where you can wield both One for All and All Flare at the same time."

The Pro pulled out a tablet that was similar to the one Nezu had used back when they tested Izuku's power for the first time and just like before, the bunsen-burner like device emerged from the floor. Izuku frowned at All Might nervously. "I won't hurt you?"

"My costume is fireproof," All Might chuckled, flexing his arms. "No worries, young man!"

"Okay…" Izuku forced a smile on his face as he started using All Flare, green flames licking at his body. It wasn't even close to the full-body flare, but he got his hands and feet ignited on his own easily enough this time. He reached out towards the bunsen-burner to gather more flames until his arms, legs, and most of his torso were all ablaze.

All Might grinned as the flames finally covered the teen's whole body, including the two extensions of his costume that resembled All Might's hair. They started to sway gently with the fire, hiding the fact that they were really horns. "Come at me with everything you've got, young Izuku!"

"Yes!" Izuku shouted back, then rushed All Might head-on. He brought a fist back, clenching it tightly to wind up One for All. All Might raised both arms to block and took the blow directly, shifting into a crouch so that his center of gravity was lower.

The punch struck All Might's thick arms, but it didn't even make him budge. Izuku gaped in surprise. He hadn't blown his arm up with that, but he expected it to have more of an effect.

"Don't stop now," All Might told him, still grinning. "I told you the power output would be low! Just get used to the feeling of it! Keep going!"

Izuku jolted into action and began to punch and kick at All Might with One for All, never letting up on his blows. The Pro weathered them with ease, not so much as flinching from every strike that landed. After a few minutes of attacking him, All Might suddenly dodged one of Izuku's punches, causing him to yelp and overextend. He nearly fell over, but regained his balance.

All Might laughed. "You're getting it, but a villain isn't going to stay put and let you attack them! Come and get me!"

The teen lunged after his Pro mentor with a yell, who caught the blow with his hand and simply diverted the attack before he jumped away again. All Might wasn't even using One for All himself, otherwise there would be no way Izuku could keep up with him.

Izuku suddenly missed one of his punches and ended up smashing his fists into one of the cement pillars in the room. He winced, but grinned a moment in pleasant surprise. He hadn't accidentally unleashed the full 100% by striking the rock. And he was starting to get a feel for this 'low power setting'…but it took him time to wind it up in each limb one after another.

A thought struck him. _Maybe if I spread it all over me like All Flare…_

He tensed up and slowly let One for All spread through his whole body. The power crackled like lightning through his muscles, bones, and blood. It was tricky to maintain and he didn't think he could hold it for long, but this would be a lot faster and more efficient than just firing up one limb after another.

All Might noticed the change and grinned widely. He could see that Izuku's body was starting to adapt to One for All just as it had with All Flare. In fact, the two Quirks were starting to mix.

Izuku whipped towards All Might and lunged at him, this time much faster than before. With the low power setting spread throughout his whole body, he was able to push off with his legs using that enhanced strength and a burst of his flames. The sudden increase in speed caught All Might off-guard momentarily, but he responded with inhuman reflexes.

He ducked underneath a kick that would have caught him in the side of the head and reached up to grab the teenager by the ankle, then threw him aside. Izuku hit the ground with a yelp, but he rolled back to his feet and charged again, still intent on fighting.

All Might started laughing as the teen attacked him in earnest, firing off blow after blow at him with the fusing Quirks. It wasn't a perfect fusion by any means and Izuku was visibly struggling to maintain the combination, but he could do it.

 _Let me try this!_ Izuku was starting to feel excited by his new capabilities. He gathered all of the flames covering his body into his right arm until he had created an enlarged arm of fire that would extend his reach. With a battle cry that freed itself, unbidden from his lungs, he struck at All Might with it.

The Pro's hand shot out to catch the blow, but his upper body was engulfed in emerald flame as Izuku launched the fire fist at him upon impact.

Izuku suddenly realized that he'd practically buried his teacher in fire and immediately shut them down, freeing All Might from the blast of flames and simultaneously stopping the flow of One for All throughout his body. "I-I'm sorry! I got c-carried away! A-are you-"

All Might started laughing wildly, uproariously, making Izuku go quiet in confusion. The Pro's hair looked a bit singed and he was practically steaming from the heat, but his grin persisted nonetheless.

"That was excellent!" All Might exclaimed. "You're learning quickly!"

Izuku felt a swell of hesitant pride rise up in him. "R-really?"

"Indeed! Did you break any bones?"

The teen looked himself over and gauged the feeling in his body. He didn't think he'd broken anything, but his right fist felt a little strained and it was definitely tender from that last blow. "I don't think so, but I might have overdone things with my right…"

"Considering this was your first go using the low power setting of One for All, I think we can call that a success," All Might gave him a thumbs up. "The whole point of this training is to help you reach a point where you can use One for All without destroying your body. At the moment, I'd say you're capable of wielding about 5% or so."

"Only 5%?" Izuku wilted slightly. That was it?

"We've all got to start somewhere," All Might patted his shoulder. "Your body still needs training before it can handle the full power of One for All. We'll just work our way up from here, right?"

Izuku smiled a bit and nodded. "Right."

"Good," All Might took a few steps back. "Back to it, then. Go easy with your right and don't throw that huge fire punch again for today. I want you to be able to use that 5% for as long as possible without going over the limit. Flare yourself back up and come at me, young man!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

"Ow…" Izuku winced as he walked to the lockers. His body hurt all over and his right hand was starting to throb. He hadn't broken any bones, but everything hurt from his extensive use of One for All, plus he felt a little too hot after using his flames for so long.

As he approached the lockers, he realized that his whole class was gathered outside the girl's locker room and all of them were still wearing their hero costumes. Frowning, Izuku approached them.

Ochako spotted him coming over and waved. "Oh, Deku! How'd it go?"

"Great," he replied, smiling. "I didn't break any of my bones this time. What's going on?"

Momo turned towards him with her arms crossed. "We can hear strange noises coming from inside our lockers. None of us girls have gone inside, so we're not sure who could be in there."

"It sounds like an animal," Kyoka muttered. One of her jacks was plugged into the door. "There's loud breathing and something keeps hitting the lockers."

"How could an animal get into the locker room, anyway?" Eijirou asked, perplexed.

"No idea," Mina replied with a grumble. "But I'm not going in there until I know what exactly it is."

"Move it, heart throb," Katsuki pushed Kyoka aside (who was a little flustered by his choice of a nickname) and placed his ear against the door. His eyes narrowed suddenly. "Hey, Deku. Listen."

Izuku did as he asked and mirrored his pose, listening to the odd sounds. It sure sounded like an animal was in there. Heavy breathing, something rattling the lockers, and yet also…

He stiffened. Katsuki heard it too and snarled. "My P.A.L senses are tingling."

"You did _not_ just use that quote," Denki accused in disbelief.

Izuku leaned away from the door, his face serious and his tone all business. "Right, Katsuki and I are going in. Bar the door and don't let anything out until I say so."

"Wait, you intend to enter the girl's locker room?!" Tenya demanded, chopping his hand at Izuku. "Mr. President, that is a blatant disregard of the rules!"

Momo did her best to ease his concerns. "It's fine, I trust them not to mess with our stuff. If a teacher comes by, we'll explain the situation. Be careful, you two."

Izuku nodded and gripped the door handle slowly. He looked at Katsuki, who cracked his knuckles with an eager grin. "Ready?"

"I was _born_ ready, motherfucker!"

Izuku smirked at that, then quickly yanked open the door, letting Katsuki in before he dove in after him. Momo immediately shut the door behind them.

Things were quiet for a few seconds. They still heard the loud breathing as Kyoka plugged one of her jacks into the door. It was several moments before everything went absolutely silent.

Ten seconds of no sound passed by eerily. Class 1A waited, the air becoming thick with tension.

Then they heard a shrill scream, followed by a roar of fury from Katsuki and a yell from Izuku. The sounds of metal clanging loudly began to ravage the lockers, along with several explosions courtesy of Katsuki.

"DIE! _DIE!_ **_DIE!"_**

"DROP THEM! DROP THEM RIGHT NOW!"

"NEVER! THEY'RE MY TROPHIES!"

"YOU LITTLE FUCKER! COME HERE!"

"YOU'LL **KILL** ME!"

"THAT'S THE **FUCKING** POINT!"

"YOU WON'T TAKE ME ALIVE!"

"I'M GONNA MURDER YOU ANYWAY!"

"CORNER IT IN THE SHOWERS!"

"IT'S TRYING TO CLIMB THE WALLS!"

"I'VE GOT IT!"

"LET ME GO!"

"DEKU! DON'T DO IT!"

"YOU HAVE TO FINISH IT KATSUKI! GO ON WITHOUT ME!"

"DEKU NOOOO!"

"NO! MY TROPHIES!"

"THE ONLY TROPHY YOU'RE GETTING IS A COFFIN! THIS IS FOR DEKU YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

There was a loud squeal, followed by a scream from Izuku. "CLEAR THE DOOR!"

The class practically leapt away from the door as Katsuki screamed at the top of his lungs.

 ** _"_** ** _PLUS ULTRA DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

A horrifying scream tore through the locker room, followed by an explosive projectile that literally blew the door clean off its hinges. The object in question flew through the air for several hundred meters (perhaps even a thousand) before it crashed into the wall surrounding campus and hung there, six feet off the ground.

The utterly stunned class realized the projectile had been one Minoru Mineta, now bloodied and beaten within an inch of his life, and once more stuck on the wall of U.A by his own, sticky hair.

Katsuki emerged from the devastation gasping for breath and slumped to the ground once he made it out. "Holy fuck."

Eijirou and Kyoka ran up to him. "Are you okay?!"

Katsuki waved them off. "Forget about me, get to Deku. It could already be too late for him."

Exchanging anxious looks, the other girls ran inside while Momo stopped the rest of the males from entering the lockers.

"Deku!" Ochako called through the smoke. Christ, the place looked like a war zone. "Where are you?"

"I'm here…" His voice sounded weak and shaky.

Ochako ran over to the showers with Mina, Tsuyu, and Toru right behind her. They found Izuku curled up in a corner, breathing heavily and shaking.

She was alarmed that maybe he'd been really hurt. "Deku, are you okay?!"

"N-no," he whimpered, turning to show them his hands. "Now **I'm** the pervert!"

Stuck to his hands were two of Minoru's purple spheres, and also stuck upon each one was a pair of panties. Minoru had, after pillaging the garments form the lockers, stuck them to his hair in an effort to keep his prize until Izuku yanked them from the thief's head at the grave cost of his own morality.

Mina's cheeks puffed up to stop herself, but she couldn't hold back and busted out laughing until she was doubled over and her sides hurt like hell. "Ahahahahahaha!"

The other girls joined in, though they sounded slightly more sympathetic to Izuku's plight. They did feel bad- the preciously innocent and sweet teenage boy was almost in tears since there was no way to remove the spheres (and thus the panties) from his tainted hands.

Mina finally regained control of her breathing and eyed the frilly pink pair of underwear stuck on Izuku's right hand. She giggled and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "Izuku, you can just burn them off with your Quirk. I don't want those since Minoru touched them, anyway."

"Same here," Toru agreed, recognizing her own pair of blue and white striped panties in the teen's left hand.

"B-but," Izuku's already crimson face started to steam from embarrassment. "Th-then you w-won't have any u-u-underwear f-for of the d-day…"

Toru shrugged. "That's fine, no one will notice if I don't wear any."

"Besides, it's almost time for us to go home," Mina reassured him. "We'll just head straight back to get new ones, ok?"

Izuku nodded after a moment, still blushing furiously.

Ochako couldn't help but smile at him. "C'mon, let's get you out of here before a teacher shows up."

She carefully helped Izuku stand without touching his hands and they walked the teen out of the lockers. Upon arriving at the door, however, Izuku bumped into someone and yelped. "I-I'm sorry! Please watch out for my…hands…"

All Might stared down at him, unsure what to even think when he saw Izuku walking out of the girl's locker, two purple balls in his hands and a pair of panties stuck to each. Moreover, by bumping into All Might, Izuku had instinctively recoiled and caused the sticky spheres to land on his own chest. Now it appeared as though he had two purple breasts with panties on top and was groping them.

The blood drained from Izuku's face faster than should have been possible as All Might just tried to process what in the actual fuck he was looking at. The Pro slowly turned, following the path of destruction to the door that lay a hundred meters away, and then to the bleeding ruin that was Minoru attached to the wall.

He eventually looked back at Izuku, opened his mouth, closed it, and then finally walked off to do something about Minoru. "Okay."

And that was that.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay, chapter six and progress this time! We'll be moving on to the USJ incident starting if not next chapter then the one after that! I have to leave for work soon, so let's get on to the review responses!**

 **Anc1enT: "Damn fucking straight it was." "I regret nothing" Bakugo quotes of the century.**

 **-I wrote that spur of the moment, but now that I think of it, that does sound like something Bakugo would probably say, huh? lol**

 **kyuubis-child:** **I am really enjoying this story and can't wait for the next chapter. I just have one question: is there going to be a pairing?**

 **-There WILL be pairings, however I won't spoil what they are and they'll all be pretty slow burn. Sorry if that's disappointing to people, but I have trouble making a relationship feel realistic without the proper time** **and development for it. We'll get there! :)**

 **shadowprove97:** **"I regret nothing." And you have nothing to regret, you magnificent bastard! God, this whole dynamic of Izuku and Katsuki being friends is just awesome. Seriously, it's so much better than seeing the typical "Bakugo is still a complete ass to Deku even though he has a good quirk" scenario. I can not wait to see where this goes.**

 **-lol Bakugo isn't really a person who regrets much, huh? I'm actually kind of surprised there aren't a lot of fics with Izuku and Katsuki as friends. I mean, yeah, I get that Katsuki's character is literally an ass, but that doesn't mean he can't be a little more lenient with another character and still feel canon. It's fun to try and feel out his character in this situation, to gauge what feels realistic and what doesn't. I think I've done an okay job so far of keeping him from being too OOC, but I know it's not quite perfect yet.**

 **TheStoryWever: And the P.A.L. is approaching the corner and is ready to-**

 **WAIT! TEAM VIGILANTES AGAINST PERVERTS HAVE INTERCEPTED!**  
 **QUARTERBACK IZUKU SETS UP THE GOAL!**  
 **LINEMAN KATSUKI KICKS!**  
 **AND IT'S GOING... GOING... GONE! A NEW RECORD!**  
 **...**  
 **...**  
 **OK, so I enjoyed this chapter too much.**  
 **""\\_(*-*)_/"" sue-me**

 **-Normally I do my best to respond to different reviewers after each chapter, but this was absolute gold for me and I couldn't resist XD I would never sue** **someone for enjoying a good chapter! Gosh, I'd have legal appointments until after my bones turn to dust!**

 **That's it for now! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	7. Encounter

_Chapter Seven: Encounter_

Having finished their homework for the night, Izuku and Katsuki were hanging out at Katsuki's home and spending the last hour or so before Izuku had to go home playing games on a PlayStation 2. They were currently playing Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock, trying to win on _"Through the Fire and Flames"_ set to moderate difficulty. Neither of them had ever beaten this song on hard mode, god-tier that it was.

"Goddammit," Katsuki swore as he missed a note. He recovered quickly, but this song was utterly unforgiving if you really got off-track.

Izuku was biting his lip, trying to focus. The four and a half minutes or so they spent on this song brought with it as much intensity as one of their training sessions at U.A. They barely took a moment to breathe.

When it was all said and done, the two teens flopped onto the couch behind them with near-simultaneous groans. Izuku set his guitar aside while Katsuki just chucked his onto the floor.

"I'm over this fucking thing for the night," he growled, shaking his left hand to work the sore muscles out.

"I second that," Izuku leaned his head on the back of the couch with a sigh. It always felt good to beat _"Through the Fire and Flames",_ but good _god_ it took a lot out of you, especially after a hard day at high school.

"I'm going home," he decided after glancing at the clock. He only had like ten minutes before he had to leave anyways and he was getting tired.

Katsuki grunted. "Whatever. See ya."

"Yup," Izuku replied, walking to the kitchen table to grab his backpack. Katsuki's mother was there, sipping on a cup of coffee while she scrolled through something on her phone.

She looked up as he came by to pick up his stuff. "Going home?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thanks for having me over."

"Need a ride?"

"It's okay. I want to burn off some more energy before I get home."

"Suit yourself," she shrugged. "Night, Izuku."

"Goodnight, Bakumom."

Yes, he called her that. Only Katsuki thought it was weird. No, he did not care.

Izuku left the Bakugo's house and made straight for his own family's apartment. It was only like a ten minute walk, but it gave him time to reflect on stuff.

The last two days had been crazy at school. The majority of the class had continued the robot-battling exercises that started yesterday during today's lesson as well. Ochako and Fumikage had joined him and All Might for a training session to get their Quirks checked out for control issues. All Might had confirmed that Ochako's issue with her Quirk causing her nausea was due to her needing more practice with it. She would just have to build herself up until she could either suppress the nausea or hold it off for a longer amount of time.

Fumikage was something else. Cementoss had created a "dark isolation room" with his Quirk for All Might to see what was going on with the teen's control problem, so Izuku hadn't actually seen what happened inside, but whatever it was made the building tremor multiple times. That went on for about thirty seconds until what seemed like an artillery shell impact stopped the prior tremors cold. When Cementoss retracted the room of concrete, Fumikage was nearly unconscious and All Might had a nasty looking bruise forming on his arm. The Pro Hero didn't look all that exerted, though he seemed rather impressed by what he'd seen.

Dark Shadow became timid once he was exposed to light, but Izuku could've sworn he heard the shadowy creature mutter something like "I didn't get to show off" after the event. What the hell even had happened in there?

All Might had told Fumikage, once he recovered from whatever he'd endured within the dark room, that he would need lessons to control his Quirk like Izuku did, but he was okay to perform in daytime operations with the rest of class. That didn't seem to surprise Fumikage, although he seemed more than a little stunned by what had gone down in the dark room. When Izuku and Ochako asked him later, all he said was this:

"He stopped Dark Shadow with one shot," Fumikage muttered in a sort of awed daze.

Izuku didn't use his full body flare during the sessions with Ochako and Fumikage. He managed to get the flames going on his hands and feet, but there was no way in hell he was going to go for the full-on flare with them around. He was still trying to get comfortable using it with All Might, and he trusted the Pro more than pretty much anyone.

Regulating One for All was getting better. Izuku hadn't broken any bones during these training sessions, but he didn't quite feel like he was fully adapted to the low power setting yet. The few times he tried targeting a non-human object, like a cement target made by Cementoss, he could feel his power fluctuate and it took a while to get it back under control. All Might had told him that targeting a person and a non-living object would be different from a mental standpoint, but he hadn't thought it would be this hard.

Practice, practice, practice. That was all he could do for now, until he got used to the low power setting.

Izuku was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't watch where he was going and startled when a small shape ran into him. He nearly stumbled, but kept his footing, eyes going wide when the child who ran into him fell back with a gasp.

"I-I'm sorry!" He yelped, kneeling immediately to check if they were okay. "Did I hurt you?"

The child- a little girl- stared up at him with wide, red eyes, her face covered in sweat while she panted for breath. She couldn't have been older than six or seven, with long, choppy white hair and a small horn on the right side of her forehead. She was wearing a short-sleeve dress with no footwear, but what really caught Izuku off-guard were the bandages covering her arms and legs.

She initially cringed away from him, but froze when he lay his hand gently on her shoulder. Her wide eyes were uncertain as she opened her mouth to answer him.

"Eri, there you are! Jeez, stop running, will ya?"

Izuku looked up from the child expecting to see a parent, so he was stunned when he found himself looking at a tall, muscular man in a black suit, wearing a dark red, beak-shaped mask over his face. He couldn't see the man's face at all, so the only way he was able to tell the individual was male was by his voice and body.

The man's hand clenched a little, as though he were irritated and trying to stop himself from making a fist. "Who're you? Actually never mind, I don't care. Sorry if my daughter bumped into you, but we gotta get going now. Come on, Eri!"

"O-oh! It was my fault she fell! I'm sorry!" Izuku started to help her stand up. "Here, let me…"

Eri said something under her breath that he couldn't catch. "Say again?"

One of her little hands clenched the fabric of his shirt and Izuku was suddenly aware that she was shaking. Her voice was hoarse and he could hear the tremor in every word she spoke.

 _"_ _He's not my daddy."_

The raw terror in her voice sent a chill up his spine, but Izuku forced down any visible reactions he might have had. If the man- no, _kidnapper_ \- figured out that Izuku knew what was going on, there was no telling what he would do. Worst case scenario, he would go on the attack. His mind started to race, running calculations and scenarios through every cell his brain had to spare.

Contact the police? No, too slow to respond given the situation. It wasn't like he could talk to them, either. They might assume his call was a prank or something. Not worth the risk.

Pick up Eri and run? Too risky. He didn't know if this guy was armed or what his Quirk was. He needed more data to make that plan work.

Fight the villain? Even riskier. In addition to the formerly mentioned unknown factors, Izuku had no idea if this guy would care about damaging the houses around them. He didn't want to get innocent people involved in this and it would put Eri in further danger. He also didn't have a hero license yet, so a head-on attack would be illegal. He could only fight back in self-defense.

Try to get in touch with one of his emergency contacts and stall for time? Chancy at best, given that he didn't know where exactly his contacts were and he would have to stall for time. The odds were it would take several minutes at the very least, but it was the best option he had at the moment. That would be his starting point.

There was no other choice. He'd have to pick the situation apart as it went on and adapt from there.

"Were you guys playing t-tag or something?" Izuku asked the villain, trying to keep his voice normal. He made a show of looking around and behind the guy. "Is someone else chasing you?"

It was just luck on Izuku's part that the villain reflexively followed his gaze to look over his shoulder. "Nah, it's just us. But she ran a bit too far away from the motel we're staying at."

"Gotcha," Izuku slowly helped Eri up onto her feet, letting her remain close to him. The way she was attached to his torso would make it harder for the villain to spot his left arm hiding behind him, taking his phone out of his back pocket and dialing the second emergency contact on his phone right after his mother. "H-hey, I think she got hurt f-falling earlier. We should take her to a d-doctor to see if she's okay."

The man cocked his head back towards Izuku and Eri. "No need, my boss is a doctor. He'll fix her up."

Eri whimpered and squeezed Izuku's shirt tighter. She knew the doctor, Izuku realized, and he probably wasn't a good person. The way she reacted made him suspicious that this wasn't just a kidnapping- it might be a retrieval. The villain seemed familiar with Eri and she knew the doctor he was talking about. He wondered if that was why she was covered in bandages.

They'd hurt her and she'd tried to escape. Now one of them had caught up to her and Izuku had no intention of letting them take her back. He mentally added in the possibility that there were other villains around looking for her. The guy mentioned a boss, so he probably wasn't the only crony around here.

"Eri, c'mon we gotta go," the villain ordered.

Izuku looked up at the man, trying to make eye contact, but it was impossible with his mask. "I-I think she's a little spooked. How about I walk back to the motel with you guys? To make up for me causing her to fall."

"No," Izuku could hear the edge to his voice this time. The villain was getting impatient. "Boss doesn't like strangers popping up outta nowhere. Eri, get over here, _now."_

She stilled for a moment and then let Izuku go, spinning around to go to the man. It caught him so off-guard that she would actually move _towards_ the kidnapper that Izuku acted without thinking and pulled her back to him, holding her protectively. Eri gasped, looking at Izuku with horrified eyes.

He froze, staring at the villain.

The villain went utterly silent for several seconds. His head cocked to the side a little. "Hey…you were just a little annoying a moment ago, but now you're getting on my nerves…"

He'd fucked up. Oh, he'd fucked up _bad_.

The man's hand clenched again and Izuku saw a spark of flame rush along his fingers. "I'm only going to ask you this once since you were so polite earlier. Give her back to me and I'll forget about you."

A flame Quirk. The villain had a flame Quirk. Izuku ran that information through his calculations. His chances of successfully fighting off the villain or retreating from him with Eri had just greatly increased. He just had to stall for as long as possible.

Izuku felt the rush of blood through his veins, the same as it had when he tried to save Katsuki and Ochako before. "I don't feel comfortable just letting her leave with you. I'd rather we go to the hospital."

"Wrong answer," the villain snarled. He held up both arms, letting flame blaze over his limbs until they were both burning up to his shoulder. "Boss ain't gonna like this, but he'll like it less if I don't bring Eri back!"

Izuku got a shock when the villain launched a fireball straight at them, regardless of Eri being in the way. He barely had time to get both arms around her and jump away before the flames rushed over the street.

"What are you doing?!" He gasped, shocked by the villain's total disregard for the girl. "You could've killed her!"

"Like I care!" The villain gathered up some of his flames in his right hand and threw another fireball, which Izuku dodged again. "Even if I fuck her up, the boss can just fix her again!"

So the villain didn't give a damn whether he hit Eri or not. That shifted the odds out of Izuku's favor somewhat, but he could still work with this. The guy was chucking fireballs all over the street. Izuku could take advantage of this.

He landed with Eri still in his arms and faced an oncoming fireball head-on. One of his hands whipped up, becoming enveloped in emerald flame and drew the outside source of fire to him. Izuku's flames consumed the villain's and transmuted them in a matter of second, giving him more fire to work with.

The villain appeared to be dumbfounded for a moment. Izuku took the chance to stuff his phone back in his pocket, but it was only a split-second later that the villain lost his cool completely.

"What the hell's up with that!? I'm gonna roast you!"

He started throwing fireballs with even greater speed. They were smaller than before, but it wouldn't be possible to dodge them all. That was fine with him.

Izuku used the flames he'd already converted and directed them to form a shield between him and the villain. Each fireball that struck the wall of emerald was greedily devoured and converted into Izuku's flames, giving him an ever-growing barrier to protect himself and Eri with.

Eri had her face buried in his shoulder, crying hysterically in fear. Izuku spared a moment to try and calm her. "It's okay! I'll protect you!"

"Will you just die already?!"

Izuku's face whipped up, spotting the villain as he jumped high in the air. The man put both arms together to form a fireball the size of a small car and then hurled it at them. Izuku immediately directed his flames to intercept the massive conflagration and render it harmless.

 _This guy really isn't holding back! How long until he ends up hitting a house?!_

He suddenly saw a blur of motion to his right and his eyes widened in shock. The villain had landed while he'd been busy with the fireball and flanked them with surprising speed. He whipped out a knife from the inside of his suit and stabbed at Izuku. The teen desperately tried to shoot his flames at the villain, but he'd spotted the attack too late.

 _I won't make it!_

 _"_ _Die!"_

The word was definitely one a villain would use given the situation, so it surprised Izuku even more when an explosion blew the masked criminal away from them. He yelped as a mess of spiky blonde hair landed in the spot the villain had been in just a moment before, scowling and looking exceptionally annoyed. "K-Katsuki!"

"Hey! Don't start a street fight without me, Deku!" Katsuki snapped at him. He was wearing a pair of dark basketball shorts and a black tank-top. "And pick your timing better! I'm tired, you asshat!"

"I'm sorry," Izuku answered quickly, directing his attention back to the villain. The man shook himself, recovering from the explosion quickly.

Katsuki sneered at the beaked criminal. "Who's the rooster?"

"He's a kidnapper," Izuku replied, tightening his grip around Eri, who was still buried in his shoulder. "And he's after this girl. I think she got away from him and now he's trying to get her back to his boss."

"That so?" Katsuki cracked his knuckles, a maniacal grin forming on his face. "Then the sentence is death."

"I already called for backup," Izuku told him quietly. "We just have to stall. His Quirk lets him throw fireballs, but he's also got that knife. We should keep our distance and fight defensively. I can negate his fire if you can keep him away. Also, I don't know if he's got friends around here. We gotta watch our backs."

"Jeez, how fast did you come up with that, you nerd? Works for me, though," the blonde teen let a few small explosions pop off in his palms to warm himself up. "Let's kill his ass!"

The villain was fully raging now and charged them with both arms aflame. "I'm gonna turn the two of you into a pile of ashes!"

Izuku thrust his hand towards the charging villain, directing a stream of green fire at him. The villain dodged to the side and rushed in close. He was a lot faster than he looked.

Katsuki was there in an instant, both hands held out towards the villain's face as the man closed in. "Stun Grenade!"

A burst of light and sound erupted towards the villain, setting off a bunch of car alarms and making the man howl in pain. So his mask didn't filter bright light and noise that well. Izuku seized the opportunity to channel the stream of fire after the villain, but the man's reflexes were fast enough that he avoided them and backed off.

"You little fuckers are pissing me off so much!" The villain screamed, lifting both hands up again. Izuku blanched as the man created a fireball that was way beyond any other before it. In a matter of seconds, it was nearly the size of a house.

If that went off, it wouldn't be just them in the line of fire anymore. Izuku stood up in a flash. He had to flare up completely if he was going to stop the attack. He gripped Eri tightly and opened his mouth, about to tell Katsuki to take her so he could make full use of his Quirk, but it was at that moment his backup arrived.

 _"_ _NEW HAMPSHIRE…SMASH!"_

Faster than they could blink, an object not unlike a meteor slammed into the villain from behind, pulverizing him into the ground and blowing the huge fireball into cinders. The impact created a crater in the street and nearly made Izuku trip, though he yelped and stumbled from the shock of it.

Izuku and Katsuki stared at the cloud of debris as it settled and a large, muscular shadow stood up within it. The first thing they saw was a shock of blonde hair and a huge grin. "It's alright now, boys! For I am here!"

"All Might!?" Katsuki gaped in disbelief. "How the hell- why are you here?!"

"I was doing some work nearby and spotted a couple of fireballs flying around," All Might laughed, hands on his hips. His foot was keeping the now unconscious villain pinned to the ground. "What are the odds you would be here? Sheesh, it seems like every time I see you two outside of school, you're fighting some villain. Slow it down some for this old man, will you?"

His eyes glinted at Izuku and the boy quietly sighed in relief. All Might had gotten his emergency call and come running. He'd given Izuku that number solely for emergencies, telling him under no circumstances was he to call it otherwise.

"You're fine to shut your flames down, young Izuku," All Might told him, glancing down at the villain. "He's in no shape to fight anymore."

"R-right," Izuku stammered, willing the emerald flames still flowing around them to dissipate and die out. The second they were gone, he smiled at All Might. "Thanks for saving us."

"Of course! But if I might be so curious," the Symbol of Peace lifted the villain up by the collar with one hand and studied his now-broken mask. "Why did you need saving in the first place?"

Izuku told everything he knew to All Might, all the while holding Eri close to him. She was staring at All Might with even wider eyes than before, as though she couldn't believe the villain had been crushed so easily.

All Might scratched his chin. "I see…in that case, let's first get this little one to a hospital to make sure she's not hurt and to ensure you two are alright. After that, I'll get you boys home, but expect an interview with the police investigators tomorrow or the day after. They'll need your testimony to charge this guy."

Katsuki shoved his hands into his pockets. He looked irritated again. "Ugh, I didn't even get to kill this guy."

All Might sweat-dropped, looking to Izuku for some sort of explanation to that statement. The teen laughed nervously. "He's mad that he didn't get to beat the guy up."

"Ah. It's fortunate you didn't, though. The fact that you could have been injured aside, neither of you are officially qualified for hero work yet," All Might said.

"I know that," Katsuki huffed. "It's still annoying, though."

"I understand. Come now, let's get you all to the hospital. And you should probably call your parents on the way to tell them you're alright."

* * *

All Might called up a friend of his from the police and got them all transferred to the hospital in less than an hour while another escort took the villain to a prison. Once they got to the hospital, Izuku and Katsuki made it through the doctor's examinations in record time. Neither of them had been hurt in the fight, so they were deemed fine after just fifteen minutes.

But Eri was a completely different matter.

She absolutely _refused_ to let go of Izuku and as soon as one of the doctors picked up a needle to take a small blood sample, she started sobbing until they put it away. The poor girl was utterly traumatized and it took Izuku's reassurances and the better part of two hours for them to get even simple things like her weight, height, and blood pressure.

When Izuku finally convinced her to let him remove her bandages, his face went pale. Dotting her arm along the inside of her elbow were a number of scars that looked an awful lot like insertion wounds from a needle. Someone had been either injecting something into her or taking something out for a long time.

After seeing them, the doctors decided that extending the amount of time she was exposed to the environment in the hospital would only stress her further and be a negative influence on her health. They did a quick check for infections, then gave Izuku a few alcohol wipes to clean any open wounds (Eri would _not_ let them touch her) and some fresh bandages.

Izuku walked Eri to the hospital lobby, where All Might was waiting along with Izuku's mother, Inko. Katsuki had already been taken home by his parents.

Inko rushed towards her son and swept him up into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay! I know you said you were alright, but I was so worried!"

Izuku hugged her back with his right arm- Eri was still clinging to his left. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"I know," she sighed, letting him go and sniffling. Inko wiped away her tears with a handkerchief and looked at the frightened child holding onto Izuku. "And who is this?"

"This is Eri," Izuku replied, offering the girl a small smile. "Eri, this is my mom, Inko."

"H-hi," the girl managed a small squeak, but remained attached to Izuku's side.

Inko smiled at the child gently. "Hello, Eri. I'm happy to meet you."

All Might finished talking to the doctor in charge of Eri's examination, nodding as the man turned and left to tend to his other patients. The Symbol of Peace looked from Eri to Izuku. "Well, she's clear to leave. They don't think it's wise to keep her here since it stresses her out so badly."

"But where do we take her?" Izuku asked with a frown. "I mean…we don't even know who her parents are."

"It's a problem," All Might admitted. "But if your mother agrees to it, I was thinking she could spend a night at your home. She's obviously more comfortable with you than anyone else right now. I can take her to U.A if we need to, but I think it's best if she's with someone she trusts for tonight. She's been through a lot."

Izuku looked at his mother. "Mom?"

"I don't mind," Inko replied, smiling again. "Of course she can spend the night."

All Might nodded. "Bring her up to U.A tomorrow and we'll figure out where to go from there. More than likely, the police will find a foster home to take custody of her for a short while until her parents can be located."

"Okay," Izuku knelt down so he was eye-level with Eri and smiled at her. "Does that sound good, Eri? We'll have a sleepover tonight at my house."

Eri didn't have even the foggiest idea of what a sleepover was, but she didn't really care as long as she got to stay with this boy. She had never felt safe with another person in her entire life. His hands were so gentle and kind and just…protective. The feeling was completely alien to her, but she never wanted it to go away. So she gave him a shy smile and dipped her head. "Okay."

* * *

Fortunately, there was still a supermarket open with just ten minutes left before closing time, so after Inko picked up Izuku and Eri from the hospital, she drove them out there to find some clothes for the girl. The white dress she wore was dirty from her running through the streets and small burn marks after the battle. Seeing as it was more or less ruined and she didn't have any other clothes, Inko decided that she needed to buy some more for the little girl.

The hurried inside to grab some pajamas and a few simple outfits for Eri and got out in record time. Once that was out of the way, Inko took them straight back to the apartment.

"I'll get a bath going for Eri," Inko told them as she removed her shoes by the door and set her purse down on the counter. "Izuku, would you mind heating up dinner? It's in a container in the fridge."

"I will," he replied. Eri was still holding his hand, looking around the apartment with her large, red eyes. Izuku looked down at her. "Are you hungry?"

Eri nodded shyly at him. "A-a little…"

Her tummy rumbled loudly, causing the girl to squeak and blush. She looked away from Izuku out of embarrassment, but he only smiled gently. "Me too. C'mon, let's get something to eat."

"Okay."

Inko had made pork cutlets and rice for dinner, which Izuku extracted from the fridge and moved to a plate so it could be heated up in the microwave. As it warmed up, the delicious scent of the meal started to fill the room and Izuku realized with amusement that Eri was staring at the microwave with her adorable button nose twitching while she drooled from the smell.

As soon as it was warmed up, he divided their dinner evenly onto two plates and got Eri situated in a chair beside him at the table. The girl's eyes started to sparkle as she gaped openly at the delicious food laying before her, but she glanced at Izuku nervously, as though she wasn't sure if it was okay for her to have it.

Izuku took his chopsticks and picked up one of the pork cutlets on his plate, then blew on it for a moment to cool it before he bit into it. Eri was still watching him, so he smiled while chewing and nodded.

She tried using the chopsticks as well, but it became clear after a few tries that she had no idea what she was doing. Eri pouted and glared at the utensils in frustration until Izuku helped her out, showing her how to hold them and pick up her food. When she finally took a bite of the pork cutlet, her eyes sparkled even more and she almost forgot to chew in her haste to eat the delicious meal.

"Is it good?" Izuku asked.

"Mmhmm!" She hummed back, her mouth stuffed full of food.

They ate in relative silence until Inko came back into the kitchen. "Eri, the bath is ready. Let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

Eri swallowed and looked at Izuku nervously, waiting until he smiled at her reassuringly before she answered Inko. "Okay…"

She tugged on Izuku's sleeve as she got out of her chair and it took him a moment to realize that she wanted him to come along. He glanced at his mother, who nodded silently, smiling somewhat in amusement. "Alright, I'll come too."

They got Eri into the bathroom where Inko had her take off her dirty white dress and underwear before helping the girl get into the tub of warm water. Izuku was a little flustered by the whole experience- he didn't know a lot about children and he knew even less about bathing them, so Inko took the lead. She got Eri cleaned up with body wash while Izuku poured some shampoo into the girl's hair and gently worked the soap through the messy white locks. Eri was halfway leaning out of the tub throughout it all so that she could hold onto Izuku's shirt sleeve, only letting go when Inko had to clean her arms and hands, and then she immediately reattached herself to the teenager.

Inko could already see that Eri had become very dependent on Izuku. Anyone else getting this attached so quickly would probably not be a good thing, but kids were different. She knew from experience how impressionable children were and how easily they could form attachments. If Eri really had had no positive relationships in her life so far, it was no surprise to Inko why she had latched onto Izuku with such fervor. He had been the first person to show her kindness, the first to protect her, and the one who saved her from those terrible people.

In Eri's mind, Izuku was literally the only safe place in the world. It didn't matter if she knew nothing about him because she had realized that he would not hurt her. To a child like her, whose world growing up had probably been hostile at best, that was more than enough of a reason to stay close to him.

As soon as Eri had been cleaned up, Inko helped dry her off with a towel and then got Eri changed into some fresh pajamas while Izuku took a quick shower (after Izuku assured Eri he would be back as fast as he could). Because Inko was so used to buying clothing like this for Izuku when he was Eri's age, they were All Might-themed pajama pants and a sweater to keep the girl warm. As soon as she was changed, Inko took a brush and carefully worked it through the girl's hair.

Izuku walked out of the bathroom in shorts and a white t-shirt just as Inko nodded, happy with the image of Eri looking full, clean, and sleepy in her new pajamas. "Okay, now you two get your teeth brushed and then get to bed. Izuku, there should be a spare toothbrush for Eri in the cabinet next to the sink."

"I'll get it," he promised, letting Eri take his hand again. She yawned, eyes drooping from sleepiness.

As soon as their teeth were brushed, Eri held her arms up towards Izuku in the universal gesture all children made when they wanted to be picked up. Izuku did so after a short pause to figure out how to do it right and got the little girl bundled up safely in his arms. Eri wrapped her small arms around his neck and clutched at his shirt, her eyes barely open.

Izuku got them to his room lifted the covers so that he could lay Eri down, but she whimpered after a moment. "I-it's dark…"

"Would a little light make it better?" He asked. She nodded jerkily and he made a mental note that she didn't like dark places. "Okay, one moment. I'm sure I've still got it here somewhere…"

Still carrying Eri, Izuku walked to his bed stand and opened the drawer. He rummaged through it for a minute before pulling out an All Might-themed nightlight he'd had as a child when he was also scared of the dark. "Here we go."

He plugged it in and All Might's teeth glowed white, not blindingly so, but enough to keep the room from being really dark. Izuku looked at Eri. "Is that better?"

She nodded, relaxing somewhat. Izuku got them into his bed and situated Eri so she was lying next to him, but that proved to be pointless because she crawled over and buried herself into his shirt as much as she could, tucking her legs up into his stomach. He couldn't help but smile at her and used his hand to brush aside some of her white hair behind the small horn on her forehead. Then he got his arms wrapped around the girl and curled his body around her, shielding her from the world as best he could. "Goodnight, Eri."

She managed some mumbled, incoherent reply, but Izuku knew she was more or less asleep now, so he just closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Class 1A was already in their seats for homeroom and Mr. Aizawa had just walked in, but as they got themselves ready for the day, they came to the realization that one of their classmates was missing.

"Izuku's not here?" Momo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's odd…" Tenya scratched his chin. "He's not the type to be late. Is he sick?"

Eijirou glanced at Katsuki. "Hey man, did Izuku text you or anything to say what was up?"

Katsuki scowled. "What am I, his mom? I don't know what's taking the nerd, either."

In the back of his mind, he _was_ actually wondering just where in the hell Izuku had ended up. No one had told him anything about it since last night, but was it possible there had been more villain trouble involving the girl he and Izuku had saved? Ugh, the thought already had his fingers twitching. He was gonna be fidgety and in a bad mood until he got some answers.

"Regardless, let's get class started," Aizawa muttered, looking as tired as ever. "It looks like everyone's here except for Izuku-"

"S-sorry I'm late!"

The door flew open and everyone looked towards it, finding their class President standing there as they expected, but they weren't expecting the small child attached to his left hand peeking out from behind him. Eri was wearing an All Might-themed hoodie over a pale yellow dress, long white socks, and a pair of yellow sandals.

Aizawa just stared at Izuku, who was smiling nervously, and the even more nervous-looking girl who was locked onto him for a moment before he glanced back at the schedule for the day. "Moving on…"

"THAT'S IT?!" Half the class exclaimed in disbelief.

"Hold up, we're just gonna skim over the fact that Izuku brought a kid to school?" Denki demanded.

"She's cute, but why is she here?" Tsuyu asked.

Izuku scratched the back of his head. "W-well, um…"

"I AM HERE TO EXPLAIN!"

Izuku and Eri both yelped and jumped in perfect sync as All Might popped up behind them, waving his hand at the rest of the class. They had met with him upon arriving at school, but they had thought he was still speaking with Inko in his office.

Aizawa looked mildly annoyed. "All Might, don't barge in so early in the morning."

"Sorry, Aizawa!" The Symbol of Peace apologized. "I'll make this short and sweet!"

The class waited for him to give them an explanation for the current situation. "Ahem…for reasons, Eri here will be with Izuku for a little bit! Get along, everyone!" He gave them a thumbs up and his trademark wide grin.

Rikido was less than satisfied with that answer. "That's too short and it's not sweet at all!"

"Coming from the sugar man, that's harsh," Hanta muttered. "Seriously though, that's all you're telling us?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you much right now," All Might apologized. "For the time being, I just need you all to cooperate with Izuku so Eri feels comfortable, okay? Thank you!"

The Pro took off then, (probably running back to his office so he could deflate and save energy on his time limit) leaving the class in an awkward silence. Izuku smiled with an equal amount of awkwardness. "Th-that's how it is! Um, so this is Eri. Eri, these are my friends! They're nice, just a little noisy sometimes."

Eri peeked out from behind Izuku again and gave the class a nearly-silent greeting. "H-hi…"

"Oh my _glob_ , she's adorable!" Mina squealed, almost jumping out of her seat. "Can I hug her?!"

Aizawa sighed. "Stay in your seat, Mina. Izuku, go grab an extra chair from the back for Eri. The rest of you listen up, will you? Time is limited. Be more rational."

So while Izuku led Eri to the back of the room to get an extra chair, Aizawa looked over his papers for the day. "Today we're going to be taking a break from the combat training we've been doing the last couple of days. Being a hero isn't just about fighting villains, you know. An even bigger part of it is rescuing people. That's going to be the scenario we'll tackle today- rescue training."

"You'll be supervised by a team of three including myself, All Might, and one other Pro teaching here. When you come to the hero course later in the day, you can change into your costumes if you want, but it's not completely necessary this time. Some of your costumes probably aren't designed for these kinds of tasks yet, after all. Since the training area is fairly far away, we'll get there by bus. Do me a favor and hurry there when it's time."

Aizawa grabbed his sleeping bag after that. "That's all for homeroom. You'd best prepare yourselves for the trial ahead, kids."

As soon as they got the all-clear, Katsuki spun around in his desk to look at Izuku and Eri, who probably couldn't be sitting any closer to him if the seats were fused together. "Explain."

"She ended up staying with mom and I after what happened," Izuku replied, keeping his voice low so the other students wouldn't hear, even as some of them got up to come over. "All Might wants me to keep quiet about it, but she just feels safe with me, I guess."

Katsuki glanced at Eri, who looked back at him nervously, and shrugged. "Fair enough."

"That reminds me, how did you find us last night?" Izuku asked him. "It was too far away for you to hear anything from home, wasn't it?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot with all the craziness last night," Katsuki grabbed his bag and stuffed his arm into it for a few moments, rummaging around before he yanked out an All Might-themed wallet. "You left this on the table, moron. Mom made me run after you to give it back."

"Sorry," Izuku took it back gratefully and pocketed it. "But thanks for showing up."

"You're buying me extra-spicy chicken wings after school."

"Yep."

That was all they could say before half the class surrounded them, some eager, some curious to get a look at Eri. The girl cringed away from them and completely abandoned her chair to crawl into Izuku's lap and hide there, burying her face in his neck.

Katsuki saw that and barked at their classmates. "Do you scrubs have nothing else to do?! Back off or I'll kill you!"

Izuku wrapped his arms around Eri and smiled apologetically at his classmates. "Sorry, she's pretty shy. Can you guys give us a bit of space?"

"Oh, okay," Ochako, who was at the front of the group, backed up with the others so Izuku and Eri weren't boxed in and then crouched, sitting on her heels. She could see that the little girl was really nervous, so she offered her a bright smile. "Eri, right? Hi, Eri! I'm Ochako!"

Izuku gently rubbed Eri's back, reassuring her that everything was okay. "It's alright, Eri. They won't hurt you."

Eri shifted just enough so that she could peer at them with one eye and tried to return the greeting. "H-hello…"

Suddenly, her eyes fixed on a dark, beaked shape- Izuku's classmate, Fumikage. Eri stared at the falcon-headed boy for a grand total of three seconds before she sucked in her breath and paled in terror.

* * *

 **A/N: Surprise! I've brought in literally one of my favorite characters early! For those of you who only watch the anime and have no idea who Eri is, I won't spoil anything for you, but let me just clarify that she isn't an OC! She's a canon character from the manga who hasn't debuted in the anime yet! That's all I'll say about her because honestly I love this little girl and she's a precious child who must be protected and loved at all costs, dammit. Onto the review responses for chapter six!**

 **Lightningblade49: This was great to read, really looking forward to more, kind of curious to see competitive gameplay since that apparently is a hobby for Izuku and now that he has more friends people can actually hangout with him on weekends XD..**

 **-I'm glad you liked it, there will be lots more! Especially regarding Izuku and Katsuki's hobby of competitive gameplay, there'll be lots of hangouts for the kids! It's gonna be fun!**

 **TheEnd786: This fic is great! I'm very leery about MHA fics right now because the fandom's still so small and it's still mostly mediocre fics out there but now I've finally found a treasure!**

 **I'm really enjoying Katsuki and Izuku's friendship as well but something I think you might not be handling right is Katsuki's inferiority complex because I'd kind of expect him to take the fact that Izuku couldn't even control his quirk but still tried helping him in the childhood fall into the river really badly. Although maybe it's just me. And of course you might have planned a flashback to show that scene differently or something. If you don't mind a recommendation I'd highly suggest you check out saisai-chan on tumblr. She writes in my opinion some of the absolute best meta about Katsuki's character, motivations, actions etc.**  
 **Also about pairings- one of the things I love the most about Izuku's character is that he's essentially the Everyman. You can ship him with literally any of the girls and find some way to make them work. My personal hope that the pairing isn't with Uraraka. It's not a dig at her because I love her character but I just find their ship itself really cliche and boring. My personal favs to ship Izuku with is Momo and Tsuyu. Of course I'm not trying to dictate what you should do, just wanted to let you know my thoughts.**

 **-I'm glad you're enjoying it! MHA is still pretty young, even as the manga is concerned, so I get where you're coming from. It's part of the reason why I held off on writing one for a while, but I couldn't resist any longer!**

 **I totally understand what you're saying regarding Katsuki and his inferiority complex and let me just reassure you right now, I have not forgotten about it by any means! Katsuki and Izuku's relationship is a lot more developed in this fic than in canon (which I WILL explain more about soon) and that's why he doesn't have such serious issues with Izuku here. Katsuki does have an inferiority complex, but it's not as obvious yet because he spends so much time with Izuku (who he's cool with right now) and so his only real competition in his eyes at the moment is Shoto. You'll see that complex pop up soon, believe me!**

 **In regards to the pairings, I also agree with Izuku being the everyman. Let me just say now, this is not gonna be a harem fic (I just don't do those lol) and it will be only single pairs, but I'm not going to make it so clean cut. This is high school! Relationships come and go all the time and these teenagers are still trying to figure themselves out amidst the madness that is hero training! So pairings are something that won't be developed seriously for a while!**

 **marionette:** **Omg that was hilarious xD Okay srsly where have you been all my life? I adore fics of Katsuki and Izuku being friends but most of the time it's Katsuki being very overprotective of Izuku who's usually sick in those stories but wow I never knew I needed this before ω Their dynamic is so beautiful and I honestly can see it happening. It kinda reminds me of their prototype's relationship in a way but I can honestly see Katsuki acting like this with Izuku in canon maybe two three years pass as they maintain a steady (and for the most part, healthy) rivalry with each other :) I do hope to read more**

 **-I have been hiding in a cave writing endlessly on top of working and studying for college exams lol. I wanted to try a different dynamic with Katsuki and Izuku in this fic, which was why I didn't go for the whole "Katsuki being overprotective of Izuku" theme I see a lot. I just want to see them beat the crap out of some villain together in the manga and anime. That's all I'm saying. There will be more to read!**

 **Jss2141: Why you gotta treat Deku like that?! He didn't deserve the embarrassment!**

 **-Sacrifices must be made** **sometimes...don't worry though, it'll be worth it!**

 **That's all for now, everyone! Next chapter will hopefully come out faster than this one did! (Had college exams to study for, sorry!) So as ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	8. Invasion

**Quick A/N: It appears that the end of the last chapter was cut off, so I've gone back and edited that. Go check it out real quick before you read this chapter!**

 _Chapter Eight: Invasion_

The day went by at a pretty casual pace, although Izuku's time was mostly occupied by Eri. None of the teachers had a problem with her in the classes since she was more or less dead silent the entire time, choosing to focus on whatever Izuku was doing above anything else. She seemed content to just watch him take notes and do his work.

Lunchtime came around and Eri was obviously rather intimidated by the huge cafeteria full of people, leaving Izuku torn about what to do. Fortunately, they were saved by All Might showing up again.

"There you are!" His deep voice boomed as the Symbol of Peace approached the pair. "Come with me. I've got lunch ready for you in my office."

Izuku nodded and waved at his friends to go on without him. "I'll see you guys later."

"Okay," Mina replied, smiling widely at the little girl attached to his arm. "See you, Eri!"

Eri shyly hid her face in Izuku's shirt sleeve and hurried along with him as they followed All Might to his office.

Ochako watched them go curiously. "I wonder what's going on for All Might to call them away."

"I think they might be related," Denki suggested. "Izuku and Eri are both pretty shy, right?"

"Don't be stupid, they look nothing alike for one," Kyoka shot the idea down instantly. "Izuku's just introverted, not necessarily shy. He got pretty confident during our battle training, remember? Eri's more like…it's as though she's afraid of everything."

"I agree," Momo nodded. "Did you see her face when she saw Fumikage earlier? No offense."

"None taken, it's a valid point," the falcon-faced teen looked rather grim. "She was definitely afraid of me. My face _can_ be a bit intimidating for little children, but that was…that was different than what I'm used to."

They were referring back to homeroom when Fumikage had come over, albeit at a distance like he usually did, to get a look at Eri. She had spotted him behind the other students and all the blood had drained from her face, causing her to bury herself in Izuku's chest and shiver until he took her out of the room with a hurried apology. They hadn't come back to homeroom after that and Fumikage noticed that Eri would do her best to hide whenever she saw him.

He'd scared kids on accident before, but this was different. Her reaction was way too extreme to just be a simple fear.

Eijirou glanced at Katsuki, who was already walking towards the lunch line. "Hey Katsuki, do you know anything? You were chatting to Izuku earlier in homeroom."

"It's none of your business," he snapped. Katsuki knew about as much as Izuku did, but All Might had told him to keep quiet regarding the situation as a whole. He still hadn't even been interviewed by the police yet, after all. But he knew why Eri had been so terrified by the mere sight of Fumikage and now it annoyed him even more that he hadn't gotten to pulverize that bird-masked bastard from the night before.

* * *

All Might got them into his office and brought their lunch out of a small fridge kept in the corner. "So, Aizawa told me there was a bit of an incident earlier in homeroom?"

Izuku nodded, squeezing Eri's hand comfortingly as he recalled the event. "It's my fault. I didn't even consider that she might be afraid of Fumikage."

* * *

 _He was mentally kicking himself for not establishing that Eri's kidnapper and Fumikage looked similar as he rushed the girl out the room as quickly as possible, keeping her clutched to his chest. He had his backpack halfway slung over one shoulder and got them outside in just under a minute, finding a large tree for them to hide behind before he sank to the ground._

 _"_ _Eri," Izuku stroked the back of her head gently, feeling her tremors reverberating through her whole body. "Eri, breathe."_

 _She was crying silently with her face buried in his neck and her small hands clenched into fists. Izuku readjusted her in his arms, cradling the girl protectively. He lowered his face close to hers and murmured softly, reassuring her that everything was okay, that he had her, and that she was safe._

 _"_ _Shh…" He soothed her. "Shh…"_

 _"_ _H-h-he's one o-of th-them!" she gasped out. "H-he'll t-take me b-back! No, n-no, no!"_

 _"_ _He's not one of them," Izuku reassured her, squeezing the girl tightly. "He's one of my classmates, okay? I know he looks like them, but he's not, I promise. He's_ ** _nothing_** _like them."_

 _Eri wailed into his shirt. "He is! He's one of them!"_

 _She suddenly froze and her eyes went wide. Izuku frowned and looked at her. "Eri?"_

 _"_ _No," she whispered, hands flying up to grab at her hair. "No no no no-"_

 _"_ _Eri," Izuku paled as her horn started to glow. He had no idea what her Quirk was, but he had a really bad feeling it was about to react violently to protect her from this perceived harm. "Eri, look at me!"_

 _"_ _L-let me go!" She screamed, wriggling frantically out of his grasp. Izuku felt a horrific shock run through him, as though every cell in his body was shrieking at him to let her go. His pause let Eri get away from him completely and before he could say anything, she touched the tree behind them. In an instant, the light emanating from her horn flared like lightning and Izuku found himself falling back onto the ground with a yelp._

 _He rolled onto his belly and pushed himself up quickly, blinking in shock. Eri was sitting on the ground, still crying as the light from her horn faded. The tree they had been leaning against was…gone. Completely. As though it never existed._

 _Izuku's blanched, white as a sheet as he realized what just happened. If she hadn't gotten out of his grasp, she would have erased_ ** _him_** _. He didn't have time to really process that though, as the sound of Eri crying brought him back to reality._

 _"_ _Eri?" He asked softly, watching her horn carefully for any sign of another flare._

 _"_ _I'll hurt you," she cried, hiding her face in her hands. "N-no. I don't wanna…"_

 _Izuku knelt beside her, but he didn't touch her yet. "Hey…I'm right here. Let me know when I can touch you, okay?"_

 _She shook her head. "H-he was r-right! I'm cursed! I'll hurt you!"_

 _"_ _You're not cursed," he promised. "And you won't hurt me. You didn't hurt me at all, see?"_

 _Eri peeked out at him through her fingers, but Izuku could see the tears flowing from her red eyes. He smiled at her, trying his best to look positive. "It's okay. It was just an accident, alright?"_

 _She sniffed and hid her face again. Izuku just remained where he was and waited. He couldn't push her further than she was willing to go. No matter how badly he wanted to wrap her in his arms and assure her that everything would be okay, Izuku had to be patient with her._

 _She finally uncovered her face, but hugged her legs to her chest and set her head against her knees. "I think I'm s-safe to touch now…"_

 _Izuku slowly came over until he was sitting in front of her and watched as Eri lifted her head to look at him, still crying and scared. She held her hands up at him, hoping desperately that he might be able to hold her again and make her feel safe. Izuku reached up and let their fingers touch, slowly sliding his much larger hands over hers and squeezing them gently. Eri almost started crying again from relief. She didn't make him disappear._

 _He scooped her up into his arms and held her to his chest, where Eri buried herself in his embrace and cried softly. Izuku let her release it all from her system and just held her there, ensuring the girl that she was safe, that he was safe, and that everything would be okay._

 _When her tears at last came to a stop, Eri mumbled something into his shirt. Izuku pulled back slightly, but kept her close as he looked at her face. "What?"_

 _"_ _I'm sorry," she croaked, her voice raw from crying. She wouldn't look him in the eye._

 _"_ _It's not your fault," Izuku insisted, stroking her hair. "It's not, okay? You can't control your Quirk, can you?"_

 _"_ _N-no," she whimpered. "Th-the bird people never told me how."_

 _He shushed her gently. "Don't think about them. They can't hurt you here. Remember what happened to that guy last night? We beat him up."_

 _She nodded into his chest. Izuku slowly rubbed little circles around her back to calm her down. "The guy in my class isn't one of them, Eri. I promise. He won't hurt you- he's trying to become a Hero like me. He's going to protect and save people, including you. He's one of the good guys."_

 _"_ _But," she sniffed. "What if he tries to hurt me?"_

 _"_ _If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll stop them," he said fiercely. "I promise."_

 _Eri was quiet for a minute before she answered him. "Okay."_

 _Izuku inwardly sighed, relieved that she was calm again. "Can I see your face, Eri?"_

 _She leaned back a little, eyes red, pale skin tearstained, and her lips quivering. Izuku reached up and gently wiped away the tears with his thumbs, smiling at her. "There are those pretty eyes I wanted to see."_

 _Eri's cheeks reddened from embarrassment, but the edges of her lips started to involuntarily twitch up. Izuku booped her button nose with the tip of his index finger. "And there's that cute little nose of yours."_

 _She pursed her lips inwards, trying to stop the urge to smile. Izuku could tell that he was starting to get through to her and grinned. "We've got those rosy cheeks, that beautiful snowy hair, and that perfect little horn, but where's that winning smile?"_

 _She glared at him determinedly, fighting the rise of her lips and cheeks with all her might as Izuku coaxed it out of her. The teenager smirked playfully. "You know you want to."_

 _Eri shook her head, but Izuku tilted his head like and owl and made a show of poking at the corners of her rising lips. "You're definitely gonna smile."_

 _She shook her head more vigorously than before. Izuku decided he had to pull out the big guns to win her over. "You're gonna smile just like…"_

 _He pulled his best All Might impression out of nowhere and grinned widely just like the Symbol of Peace, but it looked absolutely ridiculous on him. "THIS!"_

 _"_ _PFFT!" Eri almost doubled over from how hard she started laughing, working herself into a fit of giggles until she could barely breathe. Izuku kept the impression up for as long as he could, since every time she saw that face again she started laughing more and more. Eventually, he stopped because his face was starting to hurt, but it had the desired effect. All the tears had been converted from despair into joy and she looked like a little girl should, peals of laughter ringing from her lips and her sweet face scrunched up into an uncontrollable smile._

 _Izuku waited until she was just giggling before he pat her head gently. "Eri? I want you to know that it's okay if you can't control your Quirk yet. We just have to teach you how. Now I'm going to tell you something, but you gotta keep it a secret, okay?"_

 _She nodded, watching him curiously. Izuku took a deep breath and told her. "My Quirk scares a lot of people. None of my classmates know what it really is, but it's not a very nice power, okay? But All Might and my other teachers don't care if it's scary or that I don't like it or that I can't control it very well yet. They're going to help me learn how to use it so I can help people. I'll help you just like they help me, okay? And they'll help you, too."_

 _Eri stared at him with wide eyes. "But you're a hero, aren't you? How could your power be scary?"_

 _Izuku did his best to hide his grimace. "My…dad had the same Quirk that I do, but he wasn't a good person. He was even scarier than the bird people. He used that Quirk to do a lot of bad things. Not a lot of people know I'm his kid, but if they ever see what my Quirk really looks like, they'll figure it out and they'll probably get really scared of me."_

 _He smiled and gently tousled her soft, white hair. "You've done nothing wrong. No one will be afraid of your Quirk, especially once we teach you how to control it, okay? It'll be alright."_

 _Eri smiled back. "You promise?"_

 _Izuku held his hand up and extended his pinky, wrapping it around Eri's pinky as she watched with a baffled expression. "Pinky promise."_

 _She giggled again. "Okay!"_

* * *

Izuku didn't tell All Might yet what Eri had done with her Quirk. He was still trying to process what he'd seen and analyze it as best he could. He didn't want to draw any hasty conclusions, but he had come up with a pretty incredible hypothesis and he wanted to think about it a bit more before he told All Might.

All Might smiled at Eri from across his desk. "I'm sorry if you were frightened earlier Eri. But let me just promise you that you're safe with us. Everyone at this school will protect you with their lives."

Eri managed to smile back shyly, though she remained quiet while she ate a sandwich. All Might cleared his throat. "This morning's incident is as much my fault as it is yours, young Izuku. I too forgot that she might be afraid when meeting young Fumikage. But now we've learned our lesson. Speaking of which, I regret to inform you that I probably won't be partaking in the training this afternoon. I've been rather busy all morning you see, so you'll have someone taking my place during the rescue training."

Izuku understood immediately. All Might had used up a lot of his muscle form's time limit talking to his mother about Eri and running around the school doing what he had to do.

"Also, you, young Katsuki, and I will be meeting with a police investigator this afternoon to talk about the incident last night," All Might went on. "He's an old friend of mine whom I trust a great deal, so he should be able to help us."

"That sounds good to me," Izuku agreed.

All Might nodded. "That's all I really needed to tell you, so we can enjoy eating now!"

* * *

Once they finished eating, Izuku took Eri to the Heroics classroom and met up with the other members of his class for their training. Like Aizawa had told them, they had to change quickly so they could board the bus, but Izuku found himself with the dilemma of what to do with Eri while he changed in the boy's lockers.

As it turned out, Ochako and Mina came up with a perfect solution.

"She could stay with us while we get changed," Ochako suggested.

"Yeah!" Mina knelt in front of Eri and smiled widely, pointing from her own horns to the little girl's. "We're horn buddies, so we'll totes get along!"

Izuku looked at Eri, who seemed nervous at the prospect of being away from him. "It'll be for just a minute, Eri, then I'll be right back. Okay?"

She finally nodded, though she glanced back after him a few times as Ochako and Mina led her to the girl's locker room.

Izuku went into the boy's lockers and started changing into his Hero Costume as fast as he could. Some of the other guys saw him moving unusually quick and commented on it.

"Sheesh, you're pumped up, Izuku," Denki snickered. "Slow down before you hurt yourself!"

"S-sorry, I just don't want to leave Eri alone for too long," he replied as he locked his utility belt around his waist.

Hanta glanced at him from around his locker. "Oh yeah, how's that going? She looked kinda freaked out during homeroom. We thought it might've been because she saw Fumikage."

"Yeah," Izuku shot the hawk-faced boy an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that, Fumikage. She's not really scared of _you_ , she just…she's had some bad experiences with birds. I think she'll get better once she gets to know you."

"I understand," Fumikage waved him off. "I know my face can intimidate children, so your concern is unnecessary."

"Still, I wanted to tell you that," Izuku assured him. "Eri's been through a lot and she spooks really easily, so don't feel bad, okay?"

"I will keep that in mind."

Izuku nodded, satisfied with his attempts to smooth things over with his classmate, and yanked his hood over his head before rushing out the door.

Rikido watched him go, sweat-dropping. "He wasn't kidding when he said he didn't want to leave Eri along for too long."

"He got changed faster than a professional stripper," Minoru added.

"Someone remind me to kill the grape later," Katsuki snapped as he put one of his grenade gauntlets on.

"Roger that," Eijirou smirked.

* * *

"Um…" Izuku blinked at Eri, who was sitting in his lap while the bus carried them to the training grounds. Eri blinked back, but her eyes were focused on the two long protrusions on top of his costume's hood. She reached up and touched them at first, then gradually began to play with them in an attempt to figure out what they were.

Mina didn't even try to hide the fact that she was sniggering. "Someone's having fun playing with your bunny ears."

"They're not bunny ears," Izuku protested feebly, but his protest was duly noted and immediately disregarded by the little girl still playing with them.

"Hey Izuku?" Tsuyu suddenly spoke up next to him. "I always say what's on my mind, no matter what it is. I feel like I've seen your Quirk somewhere before."

The boy flinched and smiled in a panic. "R-really?! I don't th-think I've ever s-seen it elsewhere, though…"

"If it's the fire you're talking about, that's all over the place, isn't it?" Eijirou commented and held his arm up, using his Quirk to harden his skin. "There are tons of heroes with flame Quirks. I'm kinda jealous of flashy Quirks like that! My Hardening is great and all for brawls, but it's not all that impressive visually."

Izuku shook his head, admiring the Hardening Quirk. "I think it's definitely Pro-class! There's a ton you can do with a strong Quirk like that!"

Eijirou shrugged, but he was still grinning from the compliment. "Maybe, but heroes are also rated by their popularity, y'know? Flashy Quirks tend to do better with that kind of stuff."

Yuga looked as smug as ever. "My Naval Laser is Pro-class in both power and flashiness."

Mina smirked and put a hand on the other teen's shoulder. "It sucks that you get a stomachache whenever you use it too much, though."

Eijirou nodded towards the students sitting at the front of the bus. "If we're talking about power and flashiness, then you can't forget Katsuki and Shoto, too."

Shoto ignored that, but Katsuki spared them a brief glare and huffed before looking out the window.

"Sure, but Katsuki's always angry," Tsuyu said bluntly. "So he'll never be that popular."

Katsuki was on his feet instantly, ready to vault himself at the frog girl. "What'd you say?! You wanna go?!"

Tsuyu grinned and pointed at him. "See?"

Denki smirked at the angry teen. "You know, we basically just met you, so it kinda says something that we already know how crappy your personality is."

"You're gonna regret the day you applied to this school, you loser!" Katsuki barked at him.

"Wow, two angry sentences without a single curse," Mina teased. "I think that's a record."

Katsuki's eyes bulged and his glare flashed to Izuku for an instant. Izuku lifted his hands to cover Eri's ears.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you bitches the instant we get back to combat training, you hear?!" Katsuki snarled, letting little explosions pop off in his palms. "No munchkin is gonna save you from getting your asses blown into motherfucking oblivion!"

"Didn't this munchkin just stop your cursing spree without so much as lifting a finger?" Hanta laughed and pointed at Eri, who was still completely occupied playing with Izuku's bunny ears.

"All of you, quiet down!" Aizawa called to them before Katsuki could roar back. "We're almost there."

* * *

Upon arriving at the enormous training dome, which was dubbed "USJ" by U.A's staff, the students met up with the Space Hero Thirteen and a trio of people dressed like heroes that Izuku didn't recognize. They didn't look much older than him, so he wondered if they were students.

"Sir!" Tenya raised his hand at the front of the group. "Wasn't All Might supposed to meet us here?"

Thirteen turned towards him. "Unfortunately, something came up and All Might won't be joining us today. Instead, we've brought in some of your upperclassmen to help with the lesson."

Aizawa stopped beside Thirteen and jerked his thumb at the trio of unknown heroes. "These three are U.A's top students, otherwise known as the "Big Three" by the rest of the school. In other words, they're Japan's top hero candidates. Sorry we had to yank you three out of your exercise, but All Might was being irrational."

"No problem!" The tallest of the three, a young man with blonde hair arranged in a cowlick, replied with a thumbs-up. His Hero Costume consisted of a large mask that covered his eyes and ears, a plated shirt with the number one million across his chest, black pants and boots with green trimmings, and a floor-length red-orange cape. "We're happy to help!"

The other male member of the Big Three, a dark-haired teenager with a hood and mask covering most of his face, didn't say anything and hardly looked happy, but he nodded. With his dark body armor and vest, he kind of reminded Izuku of a character from Assassin's Creed, except his hood extended into a cape.

In contrast, the only female student of the Big Three was positively bubbling and bouncing with excitement. She had big blue eyes and very long, pale blue hair that reached down almost past her knees. Her Hero Costume was a light blue, green, and white skintight bodysuit, along with a pair of green and gold spiraling gauntlets not unlike Katsuki's grenade gauntlets. In addition, two strands of her own hair had been twisted atop her head to resemble spiraled horns.

"So these are our juniors?" She exclaimed, her eyes flashing from one student to the next faster than they could comprehend. "Ohhh, I've got so many things I wanna know about them!"

Thirteen sweat-dropped. "They're the same as ever, huh…"

The blonde teen grinned back at the Space Hero reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, Thirteen! I'll get it all under control! Okay, everyone! I'll do some quick introductions! My name's Mirio Togata! My friends here are Tamaki Amajiki and Nejire Hadou! It's short notice, but we're gonna do our best to help you with your first lesson in rescue training!"

Aizawa grunted. "First thing's first…"

The Pro trailed off and stiffened, twisting his head suddenly to look at the fountain not far away below them. In front of it, a spark of black matter appeared and began to engorge, growing in size. From within it, a hand appeared, followed by a body. The face belonging to it was covered by another, severed, hand. As the portal grew, more bodies came out until a whole horde of people had emerged.

"Thirteen!" Aizawa snapped, covering his eyes with his goggles. "Protect the students!"

Eijirou spotted the group of people below them and frowned. "What's that? Is this like the entrance exam where it's already started?"

"Don't move!" Mirio barked, startling the teens. He clenched his fists, glaring down at the intruders. "Those guys aren't supposed to be here. They're villains!"

Tamaki muttered a curse under his breath. "Why didn't the alarm system go off?!"

Nejire was counting them with her finger. "I wonder if they have someone who can interfere with electronics."

"That's probably the case," Aizawa muttered, taking hold of his silver capture scarf. "Mirio and I will engage them. Thirteen, Tamaki, and Nejire! I'm counting on you to protect my students! Get them out of here and alert the others!"

Thirteen nodded. "Be careful. This isn't some random ambush. To show up when they did, where they did…this was definitely planned. There's some objective behind it all."

Aizawa and Mirio dove towards the oncoming crowd of villains and began to wreak havoc amongst their ranks. Izuku could see Aizawa using his Quirk to shut down the villains as he went and stun them in groups, but he couldn't tell what Mirio was doing. The guy just seemed to pop up from nowhere and beat villains into unconsciousness in an instant.

"Izuku!" He jerked back to attention as Tenya grabbed his shoulder. "We have to go!"

Izuku nodded and knelt to pick up the girl clinging tightly to his hand. "Come on, Eri!"

The class made for the door, but they stopped dead when black mist materialized in front of them, blocking the exit. In a mere moment, the same villain who had let the others in was in their way. Thirteen and Nejire got in front of the class while Tamaki took the rear. Their postures were taut, ready to fight at an instant's notice.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave," a pair of glowing, slit eyes formed in the fog above a metal plate of some kind and leered down at them. His voice just seemed to emanate from the fog. "Greetings. We are the League of Villains. I apologize for the intrusion, but we took it upon ourselves to enter U.A and engage All Might. We have come so that the Symbol of Peace may draw his last breath."

The glowing eyes studied the students below him, some quivering in fear, others in rage. "I was under the impression that All Might was supposed to attend this class, was he not? Has something been altered?"

Izuku had taken the few seconds the villain had spoken and studied him as best he could in that brief span. He'd appeared out of nowhere, emerging from a point in space of his choosing. But it hadn't been instantaneous. His Quirk wasn't teleportation. Given the time it took for him to shift through space, the fact that he could transport other people, and his general appearance, he felt confident that the villain's Quirk was Warping. His body itself was probably the gate, which made it tricky to pick an attack point, but Izuku guessed that his actually physical body was concealed beneath all that fog.

The metal plate looked awfully in line with his eyes and Izuku imagined it was his torso. That was probably his weak point, which was why it was armored. That or it served as a coordinate point so he didn't accidentally warp part of his body off. He didn't have the time to analyze it further.

"Hit the part of him inside that steel plate!" Izuku shouted, interrupting any further words the villain may have wanted to say. "It's his weak point!"

The glowing eyes widened slightly. "Oh, impressive. As expected of a golden egg…"

One of Thirteen's finger guards popped off. "Good eye, young man!"

A vortex of all-consuming suction began to tear at the mass of fog, sucking it and anything else into the oblivion of Thirteen's Black Hole.

"Ngh!" The villain's eyes narrowed again as he tried to resist the pull, but then his voice rumbled low and deep. "I think not!"

Suddenly, a gate opened up directly behind Thirteen, causing the suction of the Black Hole to tear apart his back. The Pro cried out in pain and stopped his Quirk before he destroyed himself.

"Thirteen!" Mina cried, panicking.

"Quite the formidable Quirk," the villain muttered. "But now that it's out of the way, I can do my duty. That is…to scatter and torture you all to death."

The fog was suddenly covering everything and everyone, drawing them into a twisting void that threw off all sense of balance and turned space into a black abyss. Izuku didn't have time to call out for his screaming classmates, as he was too focused on keeping Eri in his arms so that they didn't get separated.

Then they were falling. Izuku's eyes widened as he saw a street drawing ever closer, and a quick glance made him realize they'd been teleported into the Inferno Zone. All the buildings around them were on fire and parts of the street as well. He twisted so that he'd land on his feet and clutched Eri close. "It's okay, Eri! Just hold on!"

He landed a bit roughly, but rolled with the impact and came out of it sitting down. Izuku immediately looked down at the girl in his arms. "Eri, are you hurt?"

Eri looked up at him, her eyes wide and rimmed with tears. She was frightened, perhaps even more than when he'd found her. "I-Izuku…I'm scared!"

"I've got you," he promised, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. "Don't worry, I'll protect you. I'll get you and everyone else out of here!"

 _Easier said than done,_ he mentally snapped to himself. _How did they get in here?! And they want to kill All Might? That should be impossible…unless…they have a way to get around One for All?_

He frowned at that. It sounded crazy when one considered that All Might was literally the strongest hero in the world, but even so, no Quirk was completely invulnerable. He'd spent so much time researching All Might's Quirk before he'd met the man that he knew several ways it could be stopped, though he'd never actually seen those theories of his tested.

These villains were clever. They knew that All Might was supposed to be here. Suddenly, he wondered if the press invasion the day before had something to do with this. Had the villains provided the news with a chance to get inside and taken advantage of the chaos to get their hands on a class schedule or something?

Assuming they'd gone to all that trouble, it only made sense that they'd plan for a way to deal with All Might's Quirk. If that was true…

He shook his head. He could think about that later. His priority now was to get Eri out of here and alert the rest of the teachers. U.A was a literal fortress holding many Pro Heroes. Those same Pros would be able to pulverize all the villains here.

"Oh, looks like that foggy guy gave us our first catch of the day!"

Izuku jerked his head up to look further down the street and realized that there were villains closing in around them. He looked over his shoulder and grit his teeth. They were behind him, too. Eri whimpered and tried to hide in his chest.

"What, it's just some wannabe hero and a little kid!" One of the villains exclaimed. "Ugh, well they can warm us up until we get a shot at killing All Might. Let's put them on the barbecue!"

"That's my line," Izuku retorted, feeling rage surge through him at the sound of Eri crying again. No child deserved to be terrified like this, but Eri was going through it for the _second_ time in twenty-four hours and it was making him so angry he could barely think straight.

He held her close with one arm and extended the other towards the closest burning building, letting emerald flames flicker to life around his fist. "I don't know if you guys have some plan to take on All Might or not, but you definitely didn't do enough research. You don't know the Quirks of us students, do you?"

"So what? You're just a kid," another villain sneered. "You're as good as dead!"

"Don't be scared, Eri," Izuku murmured lowly to her. The flames from the building he reached for flooded towards him, startling the villains and making them freeze in their tracks as Izuku's green fire consumed and transmuted the conflagration. In a matter of seconds, the two of them were surrounded by a swirling torrent of raging emerald fire. "I promised, right? I'll protect you! No one is ever gonna hurt you again!"

He thrust his hand out, propelling the ring of fire away in a rapid burst. The blast consumed the villains surrounding them and sent them flying away with screams of pain. Emerald flames burned at them and began to devour any other nearby flames that they could reach, enhancing Izuku's power and giving him more fire to work with. The villains were thrown aside like rag dolls, smashing into the street or the sides of burning buildings. Most of them were knocked unconscious and those that weren't were so dazed that they could do nothing.

 _No, the villains didn't this through all the way,_ Izuku thought, baring his teeth. _They don't know the Quirks of the students. If they did, they never would have sent me into the Inferno Zone! I'm stronger here than anywhere else in USJ!_

He stood up, still holding Eri to him, and called his flames back, making sure that they were wreathed around him and Eri in a protective ring. Izuku couldn't flare up his whole body without burning Eri, so this mobile shield was the next best thing he could come up with. Fortunately, he was able to spread One for All over him to improve his speed and agility.

"Let's get you out of here," Izuku told Eri. "I've got a plan."

 _That foggy guy is probably still guarding the door. There's not going to be a way out over there. But that's fine!_

Izuku ran for the nearest wall of the dome, gathering more flames up into his arsenal on the way until they were the eye of a literal storm of emerald fire. Once the wall was in sight, he called to Eri over the roar of the flames. "Hold on tight!"

Her small arms wrapped around his neck in a death grip, but Izuku could live without oxygen for a few seconds. Still holding her with his left arm, he brought his right back and clenched it into a fist, summoning all his flames to consume his arm from the elbow down. He hadn't used this move since he first trained with All Might and never on this scale, for the fiery fist he created was many times larger and looked a lot rougher since he barely had the control to condense so much fire into one spot, but it was his best shot at cracking the wall open with his first try.

 _I'll_ ** _make_** _my own door!_

"All Flare: 5% Detroit Smash!"

Izuku punched at the wall with all the flame he'd gathered and One for All alight in his fist, blowing apart a ten foot section of concrete apart. He winced at the impact it had on his own hand, but he didn't think he'd broken anything. He rushed through and emerged on the outside of the dome, still keeping his flames close in case a villain caught onto them.

"All right, we're out!" He gasped, running for the street. If he could just get to U.A and tell the teachers what was happening…

Suddenly, a surge of darkness covered his vision and Izuku's eyes widened with horror as he realized the warping villain had somehow caught them.

"Fool," the villain sounded incredibly smug. "Did you think I would just hover around the door? This is outside of the game's boundaries. Go back inside and die, please."

They were falling again before Izuku could do anything, but he dragged his flames through with him and emerged, tumbling on the ground with a yelp. He rose to one knee and glanced up, only to freeze when he realized where they were.

Smack dab in the middle of USJ, surrounded by villains who were currently engaging Mirio. Although he seemed to have the advantage, what horrified Izuku was the current state of Eraser Head.

A huge, black humanoid had pinned him to the ground and was snapping the bones in his arms as though they were toothpicks. Behind the beast was the first villain who had emerged, the one covered in severed hands.

The apparent boss, the villain covered with hands, turned to look at Izuku and Eri as they emerged from the warp portal. It was impossible to see his face because of the hand covering it up, but Izuku got a chilling feeling that he was grinning with malicious delight.

"Oh, Kurogiri sent me a present," the villain began to walk towards them. "I'll get bonus points if I crush All Might's pride before killing him. Time to die, little hero."

Izuku bared his teeth, gathered up his flames, and launched them at the villain with a desperate scream.

* * *

 **A/N: Phew, this one took a bit! It's looking more and more like updates for this story will be a once a week thing, unless I'm feeling highly motivated to get more chapters out. Anyways, onto review responses for chapter seven!**

 **hemera7437: I just read all chapters in one go and I love this already! YOU BROUGHT MY BABY ERI IN EARLY! I LOVE IT! PROTECT HER FOREVER! I am wondering whether my sons Mirio and Tamaki will appear in this fic :3** **I really love how you portray the characters, especially Izuku and Kacchan! I love their relationship and that Kacchan is protective of Deku and that he is sort of nicer to him XD** **I also love, how they dealt with Mineta, like I love stories, where he doesn't even exist but seeing him get kicked across the yard by Kacchan is so much better!** **Thank you so much for writing this! I can't wait for more!**

 **-Eri deserves all the joy in the world and no one can tell me otherwise! Mirio and Tamaki are here! Once the USJ arc is over, you'll get to learn more about Katsuki and Izuku's relationship- it'll be fun! Much more coming!**

 **Your No.1 Fan: Socks and SANDELS!? BLASPHOMY! Eri is the cutest little thing. Can't wait to see more of her. This is the only request I will every ask you...more more more. I need this in my life. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez. (︵)**

 **-Psh, Eri can pull off socks and sandals just because she is literally too cute for words. There will be lots more of Eri and the** **others!**

 **brycel:** **Ooooooooo Eri I'm so happy to see her get saved this early she deserves all the hugs and affection. I've really enjoyed reading this fic and it is easily in my top 3 Izuku has quirk besides "One for All" fics. While I've seen one or two fics about Izuku's dad being a villain this is the first to give Izuku said dad's quirk and without a doubt the most fleshed out one. If I had one complaint about the fic, and it's admittedly a personal one, it's Mineta being turned up to 11 and the fear that the joke is going to be run into the ground. I get it not a lot of people like him, personally I think he can be funny but I'm mostly numb to him as he's basically a 14 year old Roshi or Jiraiya. Like I said I know it's just my personal opinion I'm just worried that the joke we'll be overused to the point that I start skipping paragraphs of an amazing story just so I don't get exasperated. At the end of the day it's not a deal breaker for me just thought I'd throw my own 2 cents in.**

 **-Yeah, I love the fics where Eri is saved and lives with Izuku and the others! I wanted to expand this story so that it was unique, despite there being other stories where Izuku's dad is a villain or he has a Quirk besides One for All, although it's still got a lot of work to be done! In regards to the Mineta situation, I totally get what you're saying and let me just reassure you that Mineta will be dealt with pretty soon. It won't get to the point that the joke gets annoying lol. I appreciate you taking the time to write this!**

 **Pokman12023: Omg I can believe you brought in Eri! She is the most precious child and I am so happy Izuku did what he should have done in the manga, even though Chisaki would probably have hurt them or killed them, the phone was a smart touch. I'm excited to see what happens to little Eri. I can't put into words how happy I am about this turn of events please update soon so I can read more!**

 **-Eri is the best sunshine child and Izuku will definitely save her in the manga soon enough! They'll do well in this story, too! But I have PLANS for Chisaki after what he did to Eri...Ohhhh I have PLANS :)**

 **That's all for now, everyone! To those who reviewed, thank you for taking your time to give your two cents and offer constructive criticism or just to say how much you like the story! Lots more coming soon! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	9. Overheat

_Chapter Nine: Overheat_

The blast Izuku launched at the villain was packed with all the flame he had available to him. A river of fire surged towards the enemy, a man covered in severed hands, but he lunged to one side and evaded the attack. Izuku immediately recalled his flames and moved them close to him and Eri, ready to attack at the next sign of danger.

The villain stared at the roaring, emerald fire, but with his face covered, only his voice could express his annoyance. "Kurogiri, why'd you bring this one? I can't kill him if I can't touch him. And now there's fire all over the place."

"Forgive me, Tomura," the warping villain materialized next to his leader, glowing eyes fixed on the teenager encircled by the fire. "I caught him trying to escape and attempted to remove him, but it seems he's presenting more of a problem than I initially assumed."

"Ugh," Tomura snarled and scratched at his neck. "Long-range Quirk users are such a pain in the ass. But what's up with that little brat he's got?"

"I do not know. But for her to be at U.A, under the protection of all these heroes, means she's likely of some importance."

"I see."

Tomura lunged at the pair of children, targeting the little girl hiding in her protector's arms. He didn't look like it, but the villain could rush with surprising speed when he wanted to. Before anyone could react, he was right in front of the pair and reaching for Eri. The lips hiding behind his hand mask curled up in a sadistic smile. "I wanna kill this one!"

His hand extended, just inches away from Eri's shoulder. As soon as all five of his fingers touched her, she would be dust.

 ** _DEATH._**

Tomura suddenly found himself leaping back, reacting purely on his instincts screaming out to get away. A roar of emerald fire consumed the space he'd been in a moment before and chased after him relentlessly until he was out of Izuku's range. The villain skidded to a stop and regarded the teen with irritation.

Izuku had one hand thrust out, still clutching Eri tightly to him. That hand had directed the fire, but it had also been charging up One for All to full power in case he had to shatter the villain before he could touch Eri. His eyes glared at Tomura through his mask, emanating a sense of deadly calm. Tomura felt the skin on his neck prickle as he looked back at the teen. He grinned as he glanced down and saw goosebumps on his arms.

"That's some nice killing intent you've got there," Tomura said mockingly. "But ain't that contradictory for a hero? Heroes are supposed to help people, not kill them. You're such a hypocrite."

"Shut up," Izuku's voice belied the anger he was barely keeping in line. "You're not getting near her. If you touch even a hair on her head, you'll regret it."

He wasn't bluffing. Tomura could see it in his eyes and chuckled. "I believe you, little rabbit."

"Are you unharmed, Tomura?" Kurogiri again appeared beside his leader.

"More or less," Tomura held up his right hand, the one he'd tried to grab Eri with. He had been caught by the flames, but only enough to leave a minor singe on his fingers. "You brought me a good one, Kurogiri."

The warping villain looked at Izuku cautiously. "He's got an impressive Quirk. His reaction time is notable as well."

Tomura was focused on the emerald fire swirling around the teenager. Now that he'd backed off and really took a look at it, this Quirk seemed an awful lot like another one he'd heard about before…

 _He's way faster than he looks! That was too close,_ Izuku didn't take his eyes off of the two villains just outside of his range. The warping one was trouble, but the guy covered in severed hands had made his hair stand on end. Whatever his Quirk was, Izuku had a feeling it would be bad news if he touched them. He'd reacted with as much ferocity as he could to protect Eri from the villain and even then had barely made it in time.

His eyes darted towards the hulking black humanoid keeping Eraser Head's broken form pinned down. That thing was going to be a problem if it could cause so much damage to a Pro Hero, but Izuku was going to be preoccupied with these guys before he could act to save his teacher and-

He jumped as a head appeared out of the ground and swiped at it reflexively, but his hand just passed right through it. Izuku blinked as Mirio emerged from the dirt in front of him, sweating, but unharmed.

"Easy there, freshman," Mirio set a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Izuku nodded, tracing his eyes back to Tomura and Kurogiri. They were still watching the heroes in-training, but had yet to make another move. "How do we handle this?"

Mirio turned so he was facing the pair of villains as well. He'd made short work of the small fry, but he could tell these other guys would be more of a problem to deal with. "Normally I'd tell you to run for the door, but that guy with the Warp Quirk is going to make that impossible. His buddy is an even bigger problem. I've only gotten a quick look at his Quirk during the fighting, but from what I can tell, he can disintegrate whatever he touches. It's not instantaneous, but if he holds on long enough, he'll probably turn you into dust."

Izuku gulped, but that knowledge was vital and he could use it. _Disintegration upon touching someone? His Quirk is similar to Eri's, but from a comparative standpoint, it's a lot weaker. If he can't disintegrate someone instantly like Eri can, his attacks can be avoided even if he makes contact. But even so…that's a really dangerous Quirk. We've gotta be careful._

Izuku bit his lip as he considered his opponents. Close range combat was a no-go here. From the looks of things, Mirio was a close combat type, but Izuku didn't know much about his Quirk other than that he could phase through objects.

He glanced around. Eraser Head wasn't going to last much longer at this rate and he could only hope that one of his classmates would escape USJ while they were keeping the warp villain busy. Fortunately, he had a lot of fire to work with. Izuku had managed to drag almost all of the flames he'd collected from the Inferno Zone with him when Kurogiri caught him and Eri.

Mirio suddenly thumped his shoulder, getting the teen's attention. His upperclassman stood up and dusted himself off. "You stay here and keep the little princess safe, okay? I'll handle these guys."

Izuku protested. "You can't beat them alone!"

Mirio grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "No worries! Just sit back and watch, freshman!"

He lunged towards the black creature pinning Aizawa, half-falling into the ground so he could propel himself with his Quirk. _Gotta get Eraser Head out of there! If he gets hurt much more, he'll die!_

A black portal opened up in front of him as Kurogiri attempted to block him. "I won't let you!"

Mirio only smirked and let his entire body phase, going right through the warp gate and out the other side to reach his target.

"What?" Kurogiri exclaimed in disbelief.

"He's just a kid, but he's way more annoying than Eraser Head was," Tomura growled, thoroughly irritated.

"Have a taste of this!" Mirio shouted, punching at the beast in a blur of motion and striking him in a circle. He hit it with all he had in its back, gut, face, and neck in an effort to knock it out as quickly as possible. Mirio didn't have superhuman strength, but his body had been trained to the utmost and it normally took just one shot to knock out an average man.

But this guy was different. He was able to tell from the moment his fist collided with the beast's face and felt the impact diffuse harmlessly. Mirio kept striking, trying to find a weak point, but there was none to be found.

Tomura was finally annoyed enough to leave Eraser Head where he lay. The Pro would probably die soon, anyway. "Noumu, get that guy away from you."

Noumu suddenly swatted at Mirio in an incredible blur of speed, but Mirio had phased the moment the words got out of Tomura's mouth. He narrowly avoided what might have been a fatal blow, as the shockwave from that one strike sent a blast of air far away.

Mirio let himself phase into the ground and propelled himself back towards Izuku, skidding to a stop as he processed what he'd learned from the exchange. "I see. Physical attacks won't have any effect on this guy."

"Oh, you figured that out?" Tomura sounded smug this time. "That's because of Noumu's Shock Absorption. You can beat him all you want, but it won't do anything. The best way to hurt him would be to slowly gouge out his flesh. Whether he'll actually let you do that or not is another matter!"

"Shock Absorption?" Izuku muttered. He glanced at Mirio. "I need you to take Eri."

"No!" She gasped, looking up at Izuku desperately. "Don't go!"

Mirio didn't take his eyes off the villains. "What for?"

"We can't beat that guy down with physical attacks. My fire is the only thing we have that can hurt him," Izuku stood up and gently pried Eri off of him despite her protests. "Shock Absorption won't help him with fire."

"That's pretty risky. He's too fast for you to keep up with," Mirio replied, gritting his teeth in frustration. They were in a tight spot, he knew. "But we don't have much other choice. He's too fast for us to get away from and my Quirk can't do anything against this guy. Fine. I'll keep Eri safe from these guys, but don't do anything too risky!"

"I'll be careful," Izuku promised, passing Eri to Mirio. She struggled, but couldn't get away from the older teen.

 _"_ _Izuku!"_ Eri cried out, trying to reach for him.

Izuku started walking towards Noumu, bringing his flames around him. There wasn't time to be afraid. If he didn't go full throttle, this guy would beat him in an instant. No one else was around besides Mirio and Eri. No one else would be able to tell what his Quirk really was. The "bunny ears" would hide his horns, just like he'd designed them to.

Eri's screams made his blood boil with rage. _It's okay, Eri. Everything will be alright. I'm here!_

The emerald flames around him surged up, enveloping his body from head to toe and generating a roar like a jet engine. The two protrusions atop his head became encased in fire and spiked up.

A malicious grin formed on Tomura's face. "Oh…I thought he was some cute rabbit, but now…he looks more like a _devil."_

Izuku lunged at Noumu, channeling One for All through his body to augment his speed. The beast turned to face him, but it wouldn't move until Tomura gave it orders.

Kurogiri glanced at his leader when said orders didn't come. "Tomura? Is something wrong?"

"I want it," Tomura hissed under his breath.

Izuku gathered a mass of flames along both his arms and clapped them together to grab Noumu with fiery hands. Green fire enveloped the beast's upper body, burning it's flesh. Noumu groaned lowly to express pain at the attack. It forgot about Aizawa completely and focused its attention on the teenager, but still didn't react without Tomura's permission.

"Now I remember," Tomura's grin widened beneath the hand covering his face. "Teacher told me that he had a pet like this once. One with those green flames. _I want it, Kurogiri! I want the rabbit!"_

Kurogiri considered that. "I can capture him, but as long as he can use those flames, he's a danger to us wherever we take him. You'll have to weaken him, first."

"It's like Pokemon, huh?" Tomura snickered. "A shiny appeared and I gotta weaken it without killing it. Luckily, my legendary knows False Swipe."

 _Something's not right,_ Izuku thought. Noumu was still groaning as though it were in pain, but the fire didn't seem to be doing any actual damage. He stared at the beast through the flames and froze when he spotted the burning flesh healing over.

"Noumu's Super Regeneration is keeping him from getting a burn status," Tomura laughed. "He was designed specifically to take All Might on at 100%! Little moves like that won't hurt much. Noumu, don't kill him. Catch him."

Izuku leapt back, firing a stream of flame at Noumu to prevent it from charging him, but he was too close and his flames didn't do enough damage to the beast. He felt an incredible impact strike his upper chest and a massive hand enclosed around his neck, then he was slammed into the ground with such force that he blacked out.

 _"_ _Nooooooo!"_ Eri screamed.

Mirio swore under his breath. This was really bad. He couldn't leave Eri, but Izuku was in trouble and Eraser Head was probably going to die if he wasn't taken out of here fast. _Is there nothing I can do?!_

"Kurogiri, catch him," Tomura ordered.

Kurogiri began to form a warp gate, but he was stopped by a roar of fury and a sudden explosion. The pair of villains barely evaded the surprise attack and leapt away, leaving one Katsuki Bakugo between them, Izuku, and Noumu. Eijirou was right behind him, along with Nejire, Tsuyu, and Minoru.

Tomura's eyes narrowed. "More fodder?"

"The hell'd you call me?!" Katsuki roared, letting explosions pop off in his palms. "You're dead! But you first, you foggy bastard! You get the death sentence for chucking me into a pile of concrete!"

"He's a troublesome one," Kurogiri decided. "Did they already defeat our underlings."

"Ain't just them!"

Approaching from the landslide zone, Kyoka appeared with Momo, Shoto, Denki, and Tamaki close behind her. "There was a bunch of them, but all you sent after us were wimps! Tamaki already took out that guy you brought to block our communications. U.A knows we're in trouble."

"I got Toru out too, in case we weren't able to send a distress call," Shoto added.

"What? I was keeping an eye out for anyone trying to escape!" Kurogiri denied the claim.

Shoto smirked. "I wonder if you can see someone who's invisible?"

"They took out our henchmen so easily," Tomura clasped his hands together. "To top it off, they're barely hurt at all. Kids these days are amazing…they're making the League of Villains look bad. And if they've already sent a distress call, the Pros will be here in no time. Ah, well. If it was just All Might, we could win, but we aren't specialized enough to deal with the others. Game over, I guess."

Tomura sighed, but then perked up. "But we get a consolation prize. I captured the rabbit. So as a gift for our beloved Symbol of Peace…let's kill as many of these guys as we can!"

 ** _BOOM!_**

Just then, the glass of the dome above them shattered and a blur shot down, hitting the ground with tremendous force. A wave of dust and debris covered the area for a few moments, giving the stunned figures who had been closest to the impact to regain their bearings.

 _"_ _Who was it that attacked my students?"_

The deep voice sent shivers down the spines of everyone there, but the students felt a sense of elation run through them at the same time. Heavy footsteps purposefully stomped the ground, sending tremors out.

 _"_ _Who was it that hurt them?"_

A shock of blonde hair made itself visible as the dust began to settle. Tomura's eyes widened in glee.

 ** _"_** ** _You will regret it."_**

The scowl on his face was a far cry from his usual, wide grin, but the Symbol of Peace looked far more terrifying for it as he glared through glowing eyes at Tomura and Kurogiri. "Everything's alright now. I am here!"

"All Might!"

Kurogiri's eyes narrowed cautiously. "So he came, after all."

Tomura grinned. "He really came! This works out perfectly! You won't be getting out of this alive, Mr. Symbol of Peace! Noumu's been specially designed to take you on at your best! I'd like to see you try to overcome Super Regeneration and Shock Absorption at the same time!"

All Might took stock of his surroundings, but stopped dead upon seeing Izuku pinned beneath Noumu's huge hands. He lunged at the black beast. "Release him!"

Tomura cackled. "Noumu, get him!"

Noumu began to turn his attention to All Might, but a sudden blaze of fire enveloped him, preventing All Might from getting too close and regaining the beast's interest.

Izuku was fighting through the pain of a shattered collarbone and he could barely move, but he knew that letting Noumu fight All Might was a disaster waiting to happen and he wouldn't let it come to pass. _He's got Shock Absorption and Super Regeneration! He's the perfect counter to All Might! I can't let them fight! All Might's already used up a lot of his time today!_

Tomura's eye twitched in annoyance. "The shiny's still awake? Noumu, knock him out good this time. Choke him."

He wanted to scream as the pressure of Noumu's hand closed around his throat and pressed hard on his broken collarbone, but Izuku grabbed at the beast's wrist with vicious tenacity and let his flames blaze wildly, determined not to let this thing get a shot at All Might. When he couldn't hold back the urge to scream anymore, Izuku bit down hard on Noumu's finger.

 _"_ _IZUKU! IZUKU!"_ Eri was screaming, struggling to get free from Mirio. Izuku flashed a glance at her and blanched when he saw that her horn was sparking with energy. He couldn't call out to warn Mirio with Noumu squeezing the air from his lungs!

 ** _LET ME GO!_** He glared at Noumu and drove the intensity and heat of his flames as high as he could tolerate and then desperately pushed it beyond that. The emerald flames roared wildly as the temperature soared and formed a core of white-hot energy at the center of the conflagration where Noumu was still trying to choke out Izuku.

 ** _LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GOOOOO!_**

AndNoumu let him go.

Izuku sucked in a gulp of air as soon as the beast's grip loosened and screamed. _"MIRIO LET ERI GO!"_

Mirio was startled by the scream and did what Izuku asked on reflex, releasing the girl. Eri stumbled in an effort to get away from him and the energy coalescing around her horn flared up violently, but nothing was vaporized this time. She regained her footing, tears rolling down her cheeks as she ran towards Izuku.

"Eri, d-don't…" Izuku choked out, but the burning pain in his collarbone had spread all over and he couldn't get out anything more than that before he fainted again. His flames completely vanished in a quick burst, leaving him defenseless.

"He won't be able to avoid capture this time," Tomura said confidently. "Noumu, get All Might!"

But nothing happened. Tomura frowned and looked at the black, hulking beast in confusion. "Noumu?"

 _"_ _Oouuu…."_ Noumu made a low, barely audible groan as he stumbled away from Izuku's prone form. Tomura froze as he realized that Noumu's flesh was not black because of his skin, but because it had all turned to ash. Noumu lifted his hands and pawed at his eyes, which had been baked into nothingness. And when he tried to touch his face, his hands crumbled into dust. They had been at the hottest point of the conflagration since they'd been touching Izuku and had gotten burnt down to the bone. Noumu slumped to the ground a moment later with a thump and did not rise again.

Mirio's eyes were huge. "He won…"

"Izuku!" Eri rushed to his side and reached for him, but she yelped when Shoto, who had run over at the same time, stopped her.

"Don't touch him!" Shoto warned her, creating some ice to press against Izuku's skin. It immediately hissed and evaporated in an instant. "He overheated and can't regulate his body temperature! You'll get burned!"

Izuku's body was actually steaming from the horrific temperatures he'd generated. His heat resistance only went so far and it seemed that he'd pushed that limit too far, leaving shiny red burns over his hands and arms. His face looked like it had been badly sunburnt, and it was only visible because his flames had burned away a large section of his mask and hood.

Eri bit her lip, falling to her knees beside Izuku's unconscious form. "Izuku…"

Shoto used his ice to cool off Izuku's body, but his mind was reeling from shock. _I knew he had a Flame Quirk, but he just carbonized that guy's cells before they could regenerate! The only other person who I know can do that is that old bastard. Izuku can generate flames as hot as_ ** _his?_**

"What the hell?" Tomura hissed out through gritted teeth and scratched at his throat furiously until he left bloody furrows. "He got a critical hit?! He shouldn't be able to move anymore! Ugh, I hate games where they can still fight back at full power even when they've only got one HP!"

He let his hands dropped and snarled. "There's no catching him now. No consolation prize for us. We can't beat their legendary without Noumu. Game over, Kurogiri."

Kurogiri nodded. "It's best we beat a hasty retreat before the other Pros arrive…"

"Oh, no you don't!" Katsuki snarled, pointing one of his gauntlets at them and pulling the pin. "Die!"

Mirio shouted a warning, but it was too late. "Don't do it!"

Kurogiri immediately opened a warp gate to intercept the huge explosion. "Fool!"

The explosion passed straight through the gate and opened up right next to Kyoka's group, who were tending to Aizawa's broken form. They barely had time to glance at the opening portal before Katsuki's explosion ripped through them.

"No!" Nejire gasped.

"It's okay!"

She and the rest of her group spun around to find All Might there with all five of the would-be victims safely in his huge arms. "I've got them!"

Unfortunately, while All Might was busy saving them, Kurogiri opened up another gate that he and Tomura escaped through. Tomura glared at All Might as he vanished though the gate. "Enjoy your win, All Might. This isn't over. I'll kill you!"

And then they were gone, leaving behind the critically injured Noumu.

Tamaki sighed in relief. "Those were the bosses, right?"

"Yeah," Mirio replied, walking over to his friend. "But there are other students still missing. There are probably still some villains around, as well. They brought a ton of them here."

All Might carefully set down Kyoka and the others, taking special care with the heavily wounded Aizawa. "I will deal with the remaining villains. Young Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire, I'm counting on you three to get everyone here to the other Pros. They should be here soon. Make sure young Izuku and Mr. Aizawa are taken to Recovery Girl immediately for treatment."

"Thirteen was badly hurt, too," Nejire told him. "He was warped away with the others, but I haven't seen him."

"I'll find him," All Might promised, falling into a crouch. "Leave it to me!"

All Might launched himself into the air then, flying towards the nearest zone to search for whoever he could.

Mirio walked over to Izuku, Eri, and Shoto, the latter of which was still cooling off the burned teenager. "Can we move him?"

Shoto used his left hand, the one with heat-resistant properties, to touch Izuku's skin carefully. He was still pretty warm, but he wasn't so hot that he'd burn someone now. Shoto nodded. "His temperature's gone down a lot. We can move him."

Eri immediately crawled over to Izuku and took his warm hand in hers, squeezing it tightly. "Is Izuku gonna be okay?"

"He'll be fine," Mirio promised. "Recovery Girl will take good care of him. Now let's get him out of here."

Eri sniffled and tried to wipe her eyes, but she was still crying. "Okay…"

* * *

"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…Not counting the kid with the broken collarbone, everyone was pretty much unharmed," the detective in charge of removing the villains from U.A announced to Class 1A with a sigh of relief.

The police were currently escorting the villains out of USJ and into police vehicles, where they would be taken to prison. The students had done a great job fighting their attackers off and All Might had laid waste to the rest of them upon arriving. His wrath had been something to see assuming you could keep up with him, blitzing around USJ in blurs of motion and knocking out villains by the dozen faster than you could blink.

The detective cleared his throat to get the attention of the class. "For now, you all need to go back to the classroom. This isn't the time or place for police questioning."

Tsuyu held up a finger to her lips. "Hey, detective? How's Mr. Aizawa doing?"

"He's in critical condition at the hospital," the man admitted. "His arms were shattered and his face suffered fractures all over. The bones around his eye socket, the orbital floor, have been crushed into a powder. It might adversely affected his eyesight, but thankfully, there was no brain damage."

"And Thirteen?"

"His back and upper arms sustained severe lacerations, but his vitals are stable and it's expected that he'll make a full recovery."

Ochako couldn't stop herself and let the question bubbling in her throat burst out. "What about Deku?"

"Deku?"

"She means Izuku," Mina told him, frowning worriedly. "Is he okay?"

The detective blinked in understanding and nodded. "Ah, yeah he's with Recovery Girl. His injuries weren't so bad that he had to go to the hospital. She'll be able to heal him completely once he wakes up and regains some of his energy."

Denki let out a tense breath. "Whew, what a relief…I thought he was dead when that Noumu guy started choking him out…"

"You all did a great job," that was Mirio as he, Nejire, and Tamaki walked over to them. They'd been helping the police with the villains since they already had hero licenses, but their job was done now. Mirio smiled widely at his juniors. "You freshmen pack a real punch! A bunch of these guys are still dizzy from the beating you gave them!"

"All Might knocked out most of them, you know," Tamaki muttered lowly.

Katsuki had been unusually quiet since they'd been evacuated and kept clenching and unclenching his fists. Eijirou noticed something was up and nudged the volatile teen lightly with his elbow. "You good, man?"

"I'm fine," Katsuki shrugged him off with a growl. "I'm just pissed that that damn nerd almost got himself killed. He ain't allowed to die."

Mina's eyelid twitched with annoyance at his rough words. "Can't you act nicely for just one-"

"It's okay, Mina," Eijirou interrupted her, shaking his head. Katsuki only huffed and started stalking for the bus that would take them back to U.A. He wasn't in the mood to give Mina a piece of his mind, or so he told himself. Eijirou sighed.

 _He says that, but I'm sure he's even more worried about Izuku than the rest of us._

* * *

Izuku woke up blearily and blinked the sleepiness from his eyes. There was a sort of light ache all over his body and he felt more exhausted than he could ever remember being before. His thought process was so sluggish that he hadn't yet recalled what had happened when Recovery Girl appeared by his bedside.

"Oh good, you're awake," she smiled at him gently. "You were out like a light for a couple of hours."

"I was…what?" Izuku blinked in confusion and suddenly all the memories of USJ came rushing back. His eyes widened, but before he could open his mouth, Recovery Girl held her hands up.

"Everyone is okay," she assured him. "All Might saved everyone after he arrived. Aizawa and Thirteen are getting medical attention at the hospital and they're both expected to recover. None of the other students were hurt."

Izuku ran that through his head before another worry made itself known. "What about Eri? Where is she?"

Recovery Girl chuckled and gestured to his bed. "Take a look."

Izuku looked down and realized that Eri was hugging his left arm, though she was sleeping deeply. She still had tear stains on her cheeks, but other than that she looked peaceful.

"She wasn't hurt. You protected her, just like she said you would," Recovery Girl told him. "That little girl didn't leave your side the whole time."

"Her Quirk didn't flare up again?" He asked, using his right hand to wipe away the tear stains on her face before he smoothed her hair back gently.

"No. Mirio told me what happened, but luckily no one was harmed," the nurse replied. "Do you know what her Quirk does?"

Izuku bit his lip. "I think so, but I have to tell All Might about it."

"In that case, it's a good thing I'm here."

He almost yelped at the familiar voice and looked up to spot All Might sitting on a stool at the foot of his bed. He was in his true form and sat beside a police detective in a trench coat. Both men looked amused by Izuku's surprise.

Izuku sighed and put a hand over his heart. "You scared me."

"Sorry, kiddo," All Might apologized. He leaned forward and grinned at the teenager. "I can see you're still pretty groggy, but we should get this out of the way as soon as possible. This is Naomasa Tsukauchi. He's a police detective and one of my best friends. He came today to take custody of the villains, but his initial purpose was to speak with you, young Katsuki, and myself about what happened last night during the confrontation with Eri's kidnapper."

"I'll make this pretty quick," Tsukauchi promised, waving Izuku down as the boy straightened in his bed. "No, lay down. Recovery Girl would have my head if I made you get up."

"And don't you forget it!" The old woman warned him good-naturedly.

The detective chuckled. "All Might and Katsuki already gave me their testimony about what happened the other night. We know the gist of what happened, but I also have to get your perspective of the event. We can save the USJ testimony for another time since you're currently recovering from a serious injury."

Izuku nodded a bit nervously. "Okay."

Tsukauchi's questions were short, simple, and to the point. Izuku confirmed that the villain had been the one to initiate the fight and that he'd done his best only to act in self-defense so that he could protect Eri from her kidnapper. There were a few other basic questions- how Katsuki had acted when he arrived and what the villain had done to try and get Eri back, but it was all pretty cut-and-dry.

Tsukauchi scribbled down the last of his notes for the testimony and nodded. "And we're done. But I'd like to hear what you were going to say about Eri's Quirk. I understand that it flared up at USJ? We'll need to know what it is so we can inform the appropriate foster care she's taken to after this."

"I don't think it's a good idea for her to go with someone else right now," Izuku told Tsukauchi, shooting him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it'll be safe for Eri."

"She'll be well-cared for," the investigator assured Izuku. "She'll have police protection as well."

"I don't mean protection from whoever took Eri, I mean from herself," Izuku said. "Her Quirk's flared up twice today, at USJ and earlier when Fumikage scared her on accident."

All Might raised an eyebrow. "You didn't mention that earlier at lunch."

"Sorry, I was just trying to figure out how to best explain what I saw," he apologized meekly. "But I spent a long time thinking about it and I think…I think I know what it is."

"And? What is it?"

Izuku looked down at Eri and ran his fingers through her hair, swallowing hard. "Molecular Disintegration. She can instantaneously break down an object at the molecular level as long as she's touching it while her Quirk is active."

Dead silence met his hypothesis. Tsukauchi looking incredulous. "…Are you serious?"

"I only saw it once, but I'm pretty sure that's it," Izuku nodded stiffly. "She was touching a tree when her Quirk flared up the first time and it just…vanished. Not shrunk, not turned invisible, just…gone. Completely. Leaves, bark, roots, everything. And when her Quirk started going out of control, she was crying for me to let her go. In that moment, I…I got this feeling that if I didn't let her go, I would have died."

"That'll be your body instinctively reacting to danger," All Might said, his face grim. "Molecular Disintegration? Even amongst Pros, a Quirk like that…the only person even remotely similar is Thirteen, and this phenomenon is much different even then."

"There's more," Izuku went on. "She told me she didn't want to hurt me, but I…it might be just speculation on my part, but I got the impression that she might have accidentally used her Quirk on a person before. If it had just manifested and someone went to pick her up or touch her…"

"She would instantly kill them on contact," Tsukauchi finished, sighing. "Well, this case gets more complicated by the second. That's not the kind of Quirk we can just ask a Quirk counselor to a foster home to handle. If she panics like she did earlier, she'll vaporize anyone who doesn't understand how to deal with her."

Izuku nodded. "She told me that she was cursed. That the bird people- the villains who kidnapped her- were right, and she would always hurt people. I didn't want her to feel so hopeless and scared of her own power so I…talked to her about All Flare."

He glanced at Tsukauchi nervously, but the man only smiled. "I'm aware of it, but don't worry. All Might is a friend of mine and he's told me that you're a good kid. So far, I'm rather inclined to believe him."

Izuku relaxed somewhat. "I didn't go into details, but I said that my Quirk scared and hurt a lot of people before. I just wanted her to know that she wasn't alone and that we could help her. She needed to know that she'll be okay."

All Might smiled at the teenager with approval. "Well said. Yes, I agree with you. Children, especially those who have gone through trauma of some kind, often feel calmer around someone who they can relate to and expect to guide them. Seeing as she feels safest around you to begin with…I think it would be best if she stayed with you and your mother. Of course, we'll have to ask your mother about this, but if she can't stay at home with you, I think it would be possible for her to stay at U.A and see you every day. It would keep her happy, calm, and we could work on her Quirk safely. That's the kind of environment she needs right now."

"You make some pretty valid points," Tsukauchi admitted, standing up. "Very well, I'll inform the department about this. For now, you, your mother, and All Might need to hash out where Eri will be staying for the time being. Also, Izuku?"

The boy blinked as Tsukauchi glanced from him, to Eri, and then to Recovery Girl. "You need to find a way for Eri to provide Recovery Girl with a blood sample. It's possible that her parents are searching for her somewhere, but we'll never know without a DNA test to go off of. I understand that she's terrified of needles, so would you mind helping Recovery Girl with that as soon as Eri is comfortable again? The sooner, the better."

Izuku nodded. "I'll do my best, but I won't rush her. Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Tsukauchi smiled at him reassuringly. "We won't rush her, but it is a priority. For now, just rest and get well. You did a great job today."

With that, the detective left, leaving Izuku with All Might, Recovery Girl, and the still-slumbering Eri attached to his arm.

"He's right, you know," All Might said suddenly, getting Izuku's attention. The Symbol of Peace grinned. "You did a great job protecting Eri today. There isn't a single scratch on her."

Izuku looked down at the sleeping girl and smiled at her gently. "Good."

"Given the circumstances, you class will have next Monday off," All Might went on. "Enjoy the three day weekend while it lasts. You won't have many of them. Stay at home, recover, settle down with your mother and Eri. They're both worried about you. In fact, your mother should be here any second, so I should beat it before she sees my true form!"

Izuku mirrored the humorous grin All Might flashed him. "Yes, sir. See you later, All Might."

"I'll text you tomorrow," All Might promised, then left the infirmary.

Recovery Girl sighed, but she was smiling. "What a bunch of knuckleheads I'm taking care of. Ah, well. Since you're awake, I'll go ahead and give you your last bit of treatment. It'll fix up those minor burns you've got and repair whatever damage is left to your collarbone, but it'll tire you out. Go home after that and get a good night's sleep."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Tomura walked out of Kurogiri's warp gate and into the empty bar that they used as a base, shaking his slightly burnt hand with some annoyance. As soon as both of the villains had entered the bar, they faced the computer screen next to the wall.

 _"_ _Well? How'd it go?"_ From the computer's speakers asked a deep, calm voice.

"All Might wasn't there for a while," Tomura muttered in irritation. "He only showed up at the end, so we didn't get to fight him. Those kids were annoying, though. All the fodder we brought with us ended up being dead weight!"

 _"_ _What about the superhuman your teacher and I engineered to defeat All Might? Where is Noumu?"_ A second voice queried.

Kurogiri's gaseous form condensed so he could fit into a butler's suit. "My apologies…he was burnt to the point that his Super Regeneration could no longer heal the damage he took. He's likely still alive, but he's been heavily crippled. The police certainly have him by now."

 _"_ _What a waste…we went through so much effort to make him a physical match for All Might, too!"_

 _"_ _It can't be helped. But if I might ask, who defeated Noumu? The only man I'm aware of that is capable of defeating him with fire is the Number Two Hero…Did Endeavor make a surprise visit?"_

"No," Tomura grinned behind his covered face. "It was a kid, teacher…I wanted to catch him, but he got a critical hit on Noumu."

 _"_ _You let Noumu get defeated to try and take some brat hostage?"_

 _"_ _Settle down, doctor,"_ the first voice said reassuringly. His tone- for he was undoubtedly male- became interested. _"This is unusual. You look excited, Tomura. Did something good happen?"_

"Teacher, you told me about a pet you had once. The one with green fire who fought All Might and destroyed a whole city," Tomura was practically shivering with excitement. "That brat who took out Noumu had the same Quirk!"

Silence filled the room for several moments before the first voice spoke again, this time with a _great_ deal of interest behind each and every word. _"Is this true?"_

Kurogiri nodded. "I believe he's right. It was a far cry from the Quirk that challenged All Might, but it was without doubt of a near-identical nature."

 _"_ _Sir, it couldn't be…"_

 _"_ _It's possible. That's all that matters right now. I'll look into this. You did well today, Tomura! You've learned something valuable."_

"I want him, teacher," Tomura clenched one of his hands as though trying to grasp something. "I want a pet with green fire, like you did!"

 _"_ _And you will have him. For now, let's gather a new group of individuals hand-picked for efficiency. There's no need to rush…the best plans take time and patience. All Might will deteriorate over time. Perhaps today's failure was fate telling us not to face him yet. It makes no difference. It will be that much easier to kill him next time. Tomura Shigaraki…next time, show the world the true horror of your being!"_

* * *

Inko Midoriya was in the kitchen, cutting up some vegetables to make into a soup for Izuku and Eri in the other room. She was glad that they were okay after yesterday's attack on U.A. She'd just about had a heart attack when the call came from the school nurse that Izuku had been hurt and needed her to come pick him up. For goodness sake, she had just been there that morning!

She didn't blame the school for what had happened. From what the news reports were saying, it had been a carefully laid-out attack with a rare warping Quirk that no alarm system would catch. Izuku had also told her that two of his teachers had been seriously hurt trying to protect them and All Might had shown up not long after to save the day. She was upset that Izuku had been hurt, but at least the damage was already healed thanks to Recovery Girl.

The plump woman added the vegetables into a pot and began stirring them in the boiling water. Izuku had told her about what happened to make him get injured like that. She wasn't upset with him for risking his life to protect Eri, but she did worry about him.

The thought of the small girl made her smile somewhat. Since the attack ended, Eri was even more clingy with Izuku than before. Inko wasn't sure she'd seen them separate since she picked them up except to use the bathroom and take showers. It worried her that Eri might be getting too attached to Izuku. If the day came when Eri had to go into foster care…she dreaded that the girl might fight it so that she could stay with Izuku.

She shook her head. There was nothing to be done about it for now. The investigation into Eri's kidnappers was still ongoing and all they could do was make sure she was safe and happy. Inko didn't mind Eri staying with them. Honestly, she was growing quite fond of her.

Inko's train of thought ended as the front door was opened and she peered around the hallway to see who was coming into the house.

Katsuki had let himself in again without knocking, as usual. "Hey, Ms. Inko."

"Hello, Katsuki! Come to see Izuku and- oh?" Inko blinked as she noticed a group of teenagers behind Katsuki. "Um, hello? Katsuki, who are your friends?"

"They aren't my friends," Katsuki growled, looking over his shoulder at his classmates in annoyance. "They're just scrubs in the same class as Deku and I."

Kyoka's eyelid twitched at him. "Gee, thanks for the first impression, Katsuki."

"Oh, you're all Izuku's classmates?" Inko realized, surprised. "I-I had no idea you were all coming! I though it was just Katsuki?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Sorry. I gave my number to the red-head and before I knew it, he got the rest of these losers involved."

Eijirou scratched the back of his head, smiling in embarrassment. "Sorry, sorry, but everyone was so worried about Izuku that they wanted to see him. Katsuki said he was gonna visit and I kind of got ahead of myself asking if everyone else wanted to come by..too…"

He trailed off as Inko covered her mouth, tears filling her eyes. Eijirou and the other students (minus Katsuki, of course) froze, afraid that they'd done something wrong.

"Oh, my baby has so many friends who care about him!" Inko cried, wiping her eyes.

Sero sweat-dropped and leaned over to mutter into Katsuki's ear. "Is…is this normal?"

"Shut up, of course it's normal," Katsuki snapped back. "I swear to god, the crying is hereditary."

Inko quickly cleared her face of all tears and smiled brightly at the group of students. "Come in, come in! Izuku's in the living room!"

She quickly poked her head around the corner to tell her son about the new arrivals. "Izuku, Katsuki's here. He brought a bunch of your friends, too!"

Katsuki led the way for the group of teenagers, which consisted of Kyoka, Eijirou, Sero, Ochako, Mina, Denki, and Tenya. He walked into the living room and announced his presence like he always did. "Yo, Deku. Let's kill some…stuff…"

He trailed off and stopped dead, staring at the head poking out of a pile of blankets on the couch. The only parts visible of Izuku were his eyes and curly green hair, which looked even messier than normal.

The rest of their classmates entered the living room and also stared at the image of their friend bundled up into what was basically a human-sized burrito. Izuku didn't actually emerge from the cocoon and just mumbled through the blankets. "H-hey, guys…what are you all d-doing here?"

Denki smirked. It looked kind of funny. "Thought we'd drop by and see how you were doing, but uh…this isn't quite what we were expecting. You catch a cold or something?"

"Something," Izuku replied. His head poked out a bit more until his whole face was visible.

"You sick?" Kyoka asked, leaning away slightly.

"No, I'm just c-c-cold."

Tenya chopped one of his hands towards the teen burrito. "Izuku, the A/C in your home is barely on! How are you cold?"

"'Cause I overdid things with my Quirk at USJ," Izuku sighed. "I can't use my flames at all."

"Eh?" Ochako exclaimed. "You can't use your fire?"

"Why not?" Mina asked.

"Recovery Girl said it was because I overheated my body and pushed my flames beyond what I can handle. My Quirk hasn't fully recovered from the heat overload, so it's taking time to go back to normal."

"That sucks, but why are you cold?" Eijirou looked confused. "It's not like you're using your flames all the time."

Katsuki rolled his eyes and walked towards the TV and the various gaming devices neatly arranged beside it. "Idiot. People with Quirks that control temperature use them a lot without thinking, kind of like how we just breathe naturally. Deku's Quirk can heat things up, right? His body probably produces a mild amount of heat depending on the outside temperature to keep him stable. Now he can't keep himself warm, so his body is colder than it normally is."

Izuku smiled a bit with embarrassment. "That's how it is…"

"Your pathetic lack of resistance to even mild cold aside," Katsuki went on, flashing a glare at Izuku over his shoulder as he crouched to look through some games. "You gonna play, or not?"

"Um…" Izuku slowly extracted one of his hands from the blankets and pointed at the bundle over his stomach. "I would, but um…Eri's kind of asleep right here…"

Mina covered her mouth to hide the large smile spreading her lips. "That's adorable."

"Whatever," Katsuki muttered. He finally decided on the GameCube and got everything plugged in before looking at the others students who were still standing up. "What are you guys even doing? Get over here so I can beat you."

Sero grinned. "You asked for it!"

Eijirou cracked his knuckles. "You're on!"

Surprisingly Kyoka shrugged and took one of the four controllers. "Sure, I'll have a go."

"Fine, I play winner!" Denki declared.

While they went about trying to decide which game to play, Tenya decided sit down and watch with Denki while Ochako and Mina sat by the couch near Izuku. Mina threw a fist in the air towards the group of teens about to play and gave a cheer. "I'm here for support unless the game's good! Then I'm gonna beat you all!"

Ochako held a finger to her lips. "Shh! Guys, keep it down. Eri's still asleep, remember?"

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder at the lump of blankets on Izuku's body and snickered. "Yeah, we wouldn't wanna wake up daddy's little girl, would we?"

Izuku's face reddened. "Katsuki!"

His embarrassment was cut short by a small movement on his chest and Izuku looked down to see that Eri was peeking out from under the blankets at him. She was barely awake and the sleepy expression on her face was precious. He sighed, smiling, and used the hand still buried under the blankets to smooth her hair a few times until she dozed off again.

* * *

 **A/N: Well, this one came out earlier than I thought it would, but that's fine with me! This author note is short because I'm about to leave for work, so on to the review responses for chapter eight!**

 **Bee: Oh my goodness, this is killing me aldjjnmktgk I'm loving this so much, oh my gosh. OOohhhh I hope Izuku's able to protect Eri. I love that she's been rescued so early in this fic but I'm also afraid something bad could happen to her again uidjiujihjgk. Just a quick question, have you considered sharing this on archiveofourown as well?**

 **-I'm glad you like the story! I actually don't have an account on AO3, but I've wondered if I should make one to spread my work to other sites. Does anyone else think that would be a good idea?**

 **Demons Anarchy of Pride: Awwwww yeah! Its Tomura versus Izuku! Bring it on baby! Quick question, though. Is it possible for Izuku to mix together One For All and his Quirk? In a fic called "Plus Ultra" where Izuku has a variant of All For One, he mixed Katsuki's Quirk with One For All, making a giant boom that smashed the bot to smoldering bits of metal. Would Izuku be capable of doing something similar, like a powerful, fiery punch.**

 **-Things got pretty wild, huh? Izuku HAS been mixing One for All with his Quirk. The move he used in chapter eight to bust open the wall was the same one he used in his spar against All Might earlier. He channels One for All through his arm and concentrates the flames at the same time to deliver an enhanced, fiery attack. It's not perfect yet- he's only just figuring it out and his control leaves a lot to be desired, but the foundation for some devastating attacks has been created!**

 **Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: Now we get to the real spiritual climax? How will the students really react to his Quirk? Sure he could play off One for All as INTERNALIZING his flames to increase his own physical abilities, but that still does not cover the fact he has command over green flames that eat everything and basically any flame useless against him. Im also interested in the innovative ways he will use his quirk and any furtbur modificationa to his costume. Nice job bringing out the munchkins in all of us using Eris Curious nature.**

 **-Not quite time for that yet, sorry! I also want to clarify something that might not have been made clear during Izuku's fight with Noumu this chapter: the other students in his class didn't see the way his flames covered his body and made the horns on his head when he was trying to get Noumu off of him. He had a huge mass of fire around both of them and concentrated all the heat at its core. I feel like I might have to go back and clarify that in that scene since I'm already giving an explanation for it, but that's for later. There will be some modifications to his costume, but it'll take time for that!**

 **Just A random box: I LOVE THIS! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU COME UP WITH NEXT! And i would say something more constructive but i'm not that good at writing so that's that, but you have my full support with this! (ω)b**

 **-I hope this chapter met your expectations! No worries, your support is more than enough!**

 **That's all for now! As every, please review and thanks for reading!**


	10. Progress

_Chapter Ten: Progress_

In the Midoriya family's kitchen, Izuku sipped from the glass of water he'd poured. It was one in the morning on Monday night and he had school tomorrow, (or today, rather) but he needed the drink. He could feel his body growing warm again as his Quirk slowly came back to him and now that he wasn't freezing, he was feeling a bit _too_ warm. He'd adjust before long, but for now he needed some ice water to feel comfortable again.

He rubbed his eyes and then ran a hand through his messy curls. This weekend had been fun, what with everyone hanging out here on Saturday and playing video games. He'd had a great time, even if he'd spent practically the whole time bundled up in a bunch of blankets with Eri. She'd almost slept through it all.

Eri had eventually woken up, though she remained hidden when she realized that Izuku had guests over. He'd tried to coax her out, but Eri wasn't in the mood to socialize. She had wanted to just stay close to him and the closest she got to seeing the others was when her horn poked out from the top of the blankets. Mina had squealed at the sight.

The rest of the weekend had been quiet after that. Katsuki had dropped by again on Sunday, alone this time, so that he and Izuku could play a few rounds of a game they had an upcoming competition for. They'd settled themselves at the kitchen table with their laptops, Izuku still wrapped in blankets and Eri snoozing in his lap under another layer. The covers had eventually fallen a bit so that her face had become visible and revealed that she was clinging to Izuku's shirt like an infant.

Inko had started taking pictures of that without any prior explanation. It had confused Izuku to the point that he almost died in-game until Katsuki snapped at him again.

Surprisingly, Eri didn't actually mind being around Katsuki. She never started actively started conversations or approached him, but she was noticeably more relaxed when Katsuki was around than she was around the rest of their classmates. Maybe the funniest thing about that was Katsuki didn't actually seem to mind having her around, either.

He smiled a bit. How on earth had Eri managed to worm her way into their family dynamic so easily? Even Katsuki toned his cussing down to zero, seemingly without actually intending to, whenever she was around. Even if she was still incredibly shy and clingy, she'd found a place in their hearts where she fit perfectly.

"Izuku? Where are you?"

A whimper got his attention immediately and Izuku turned his head to see Eri hurrying out of his room, glancing around frantically and trying to find him. He shifted slightly in the chair and called to her softly. "Over here, Eri."

She snapped her head towards the kitchen and ran to him, feet lightly patting along the floor until she'd reached her protector. Izuku swept the girl up into his arms and bundled her close. She buried herself in his chest, squeezing at his shirt with her small hands.

Izuku stroked her hair gently. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"No," she whispered. "I got cold."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you up? It's so dark…"

"I was just thirsty. I'm sorry if I frightened you. Do you want a drink?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, growing sleepy now that she was safe again. Izuku downed the rest of his water, then got up and walked to the fridge, still holding Eri up. He retrieved another cup and then filled hers up halfway before returning to the table. Izuku offered her the cup once he was seated again and watched as Eri took a few sips.

"Thank you."

Izuku waited for her to drink and let his thoughts drift to a call he'd received from All Might on Monday, when they'd gotten a day off following the villain attack at USJ.

 _"_ _I've spoken with Principal Nezu and the rest of the U.A staff regarding Eri," he'd said. "They've agreed with what you, Tsukauchi, and I decided on Friday; Eri's Quirk is too volatile and dangerous for anyone but U.A to teach her to harness it. I know this last week was trying, so I'm asking a lot, but you'll probably have to stay after school Tuesday for her first lesson. We'll discuss it more on Tuesday, so talk to Eri about it and make sure she understands that we're just going to help her."_

He honestly had no idea how All Might and the Principal intended to teach Eri how to control her Quirk. Eri herself seemed to regard her Quirk as a curse and on top of that, it was so dangerous that even the slightest slip up would probably kill someone. He also didn't know the finer details of her Quirk; Izuku had only seen it once, after all. There were undoubtedly factors to her Quirk he wasn't aware of yet.

He'd asked Eri if she knew what her Quirk did specifically, but all she knew was that it made people disappear. Izuku hadn't pushed her since thinking about it frightened her.

Eri had taken the news that they'd be teaching her how to use her Quirk with mixed feelings. On one hand, she was terrified that she was going to hurt someone, but on the other, she was desperate to be free of her "curse" and wanted to find out how to control it.

"Are you nervous about tomorrow?" Izuku asked her.

Eri nodded and sipped her water again. "Yes."

"I'll be there the whole time, okay? It'll be fine."

She looked up at him for a moment and then asked him something he wasn't expecting. "Izu? Do you get scared when you use your Quirk?"

He blinked at the question, but replied without hesitating. "Every time."

Eri fell silent and Izuku decided it was about time they went to sleep. He left the glass of water on the table and stood up quietly with the girl still in his arms. "Come on, let's go back to bed, okay?"

She nodded and closed her eyes as Izuku carried her back to the bedroom.

* * *

The next day, everyone was gathered back in Class 1A as usual. The students were buzzing with excitement following the event at USJ.

"Sheesh, all the news channels made such a big deal out of the villain attack!" Denki exclaimed to Eijirou and Kyoka. "They even threw pictures of us all on TV!"

"Well duh, the hero course that keeps pumping out the best Pros in the world was attacked," Kyoka pointed out. "Of course it got so much attention."

Eijirou nodded. "Yeah, I thought we were dead after Thirteen and Mr. Aizawa got taken out, but we were alright thanks to the Big Three and All Might! Did you hear? They said that Mirio took out twenty-five of the seventy-two villains who showed up!"

"Yeah, that was pretty impressive," Hanta agreed, leaning over his desk towards them. "And it only took him a couple of minutes! They were all small fry, but he didn't look hurt or tired at all after it was all over. Same for Nejire and Tamaki! Can you imagine what might've happened if they weren't there or if All Might hadn't shown up?"

"Knock it off, Hanta!" Minoru whined. "Just thinking about it is gonna make me piss my-"

"Aw, shut up!" Katsuki snarled at the short teen, making Minoru jump in panic. "Grow a pair, loser!"

Kyoka glanced over her left shoulder for a moment. "But we need to address the obvious elephant in the room…"

"True!" Mina stood up and grinned in Izuku and Eri's direction. "Our very own Class Prez took out one of the big shots!"

Izuku reddened. "Eh?!"

"Ah-ah, don't try to avoid it!" Denki pointed at him. "What _was_ that? You put that Noumu thing on the barbecue! I had no idea you could do that!"

"Yeah, that was a lot of firepower all of a sudden," Tsuyu put a finger on her chin. "Didn't you say during class introductions that you couldn't make that much fire on your own?"

"I-I-I can't on my own," Izuku stammered, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "See, we got dropped in the Inferno Z-zone and I took as much flame as I could and tried to escape, b-but that foggy guy teleported us back to the center and I brought the f-fire with me and I was desperate and-"

"Breathe!" Eijirou stopped him, smiling nervously. "Good grief, your mumble storms are gonna deprive you of oxygen one of these days."

"S-sorry…"

"I still have trouble listening to you in class and then believing that you're the same guy in hero training," Rikido said. "It's like a switch flips and you go from being all nervous and quiet to bold and daring."

"Right?" Ochako agreed.

"Everyone!"

Tenya suddenly raced in and stood at the front of the class. "Homeroom is about to start! Everyone be quiet and take your seats!"

"We're all sitting," Hanta pointed out with a grin. "You're the only one who isn't."

Tenya retreated to his seat, disgruntled. "Shoot!"

"Don't sweat it," Ochako giggled.

"Sooo," Mina leaned back to look at the rest of the class. "Any idea who's gonna run homeroom today?"

"Definitely not Mr. Aizawa," Tsuyu replied. "He's supposed to be recovering from his injuries in the hospital."

The door opened then, revealing a mummified Aizawa. "Morning."

"YOU'RE BACK TOO SOON!"

"You're being too much of a Pro!" Denki's mouth fell open.

"Um…are you okay?" Toru asked.

"In what universe does that look okay?" Mashirao retorted.

Eri stared at the teacher curiously and then back at Izuku. "Why is he covered in toilet paper?"

"PFFT!" Ochako hid her face in her desk to hide her giggles, but it hardly mattered because most of the class was snickering at the innocent comment.

Aizawa ignored them. "My well-being is irrelevant. More importantly, you guys aren't done fighting yet."

That earned him the silence and nervous looks from the entire class. The Pro was quiet for a moment and then explained. "The U.A Sports festival is drawing near."

Eijirou threw his hands up. "It's a normal school event-"

"Hold your horses!" Denki slapped one of his hands over the other teen's mouth.

"Is that okay?" Kyoka asked Aizawa skeptically. "Villains literally just invaded U.A three days ago. Isn't it too soon for that?"

"Won't they just see this festival as another chance to attack us?" Mashirao agreed.

Aizawa shook his head. "The staff thinks this is a good opportunity to show that our crisis management system is rock-solid by holding the event now. Plus security is getting beefed up to five times that of previous years. If anyone tries to start something, they'll be behind bars before they finish thinking about it."

"Above all else, this Sports Festival is a huge chance for you students. It's not something to get cancelled by a few villains. Especially because among those guarding the festival are the top two heroes in the world; All Might and Endeavor."

Shoto's eyes darkened the moment Endeavor's name was dropped.

"Holy crap," Mina whistled. "Yeah that's…that'll do it."

"The Sports Festival is one of Japan's biggest events. It basically took over for the Olympics after Quirks came around. All the top heroes around the country will be watching and scouting out you students. They'll assess your skills in this festival and decide which of you they'd like to approach to join their Pro agencies after you graduate. You'd become sidekicks."

Kyoka twirled one of her jacks around her finger. "That's fine and all as long as we don't stay sidekicks forever. Sounds like something you'd do, Denki."

"I take offense to that!" Said teen snapped back, but they both smirked humorously.

"Obviously, joining a famous agency will get you more experience and popularity," Aizawa continued. "But you've got a limited amount of time to make an impassion on them, so take this chance with all you've got and make it count. There's a Sports Festival every year- that gives you only three chances to show off. If you're really aspiring to be a hero, you can't afford to miss this event. Don't slack off on you preparations!"

"Yes sir!"

"Oh, and before I forget, let me tell you all something. The Sports Festival tries to make things as fair as possible since it involves all the students and not just the ones in the Heroics Course. As such, you won't be able to use your costumes- just the gym outfits we provide you."

Izuku blanched. That was going to cripple his powers. He couldn't flare up without his costume to hide the fiery horns that sprouted when he went full throttle. _Crap_.

"That's all. Homeroom is dismissed."

* * *

The rest of the school day went by slowly after the announcement of the Sport's Festival. For the students, normal classes were pretty dull given their encounter with the villains at USJ just a few days earlier. Even their heroics class was boring today- they had to go through another physical test Aizawa had decided on to ensure everyone was in top condition after the USJ attack.

When classes ended, Izuku was about to take Eri to her first after-school lesson until he and the rest of 1A discovered a literal crowd outside their room.

"Whoa, what's this all about?!" Ochako exclaimed in surprise, her eyes wide. The mass of teens was literally blocking the door to their class.

Tenya chopped one of his hands at them. "Explain yourselves! Why are you blocking our path?!"

"We can't even get out, jeez," Kyoka muttered.

"Ain't it obvious?" Katsuki growled as he slung his pack over one shoulder. "They're scoping out the competition, you retards. They wanna check out the class who fought villains at USJ the other day. We're the biggest challenge they've gotta face at the Sports Festival."

He got in the faces of several other kids at the front of the crowd, who cringed away from his glare. "What a waste of my fuckin' time. Move it, extras."

"You can't just go calling people extras because you don't know who they are!" Tenya reprimanded him, though he was utterly ignored by the teen in question.

"C'mon man," Hanta groaned. "You just made a bunch of enemies for all of us!"

"This is me caring!" Katsuki snapped back.

"You're sharp, I guess," a voice suddenly made itself known from the crowd of students blocking the door. A taller boy weaved his way through the crowd to the front, marked by his messy, dark purple hair. "It's true we came to check out the so-called stars of U.A's first years, but you just seem like an ass. I suppose I was expecting more."

Katsuki's eyebrow twitched dangerously. "Ah?"

The other teen met Katsuki's glare with indifferent eyes. "There's a lot of kids who wound up in the General Education department or other departments because they failed the heroics one. Did you know that?"

"Of course," Katsuki replied with a bored tone. "There's only forty spots between classes 1A and 1B after all. Everyone knows that."

"Did you know that based on the results of the Sports Festival, students in those departments can be sent under review to be transferred to heroics?" The other teen asked curiously. "And the reverse is also possible; you guys are on the chopping block if you don't make a good showing, you know. Scoping out the competition? Sure, but as for me…I came with a declaration of war."

Izuku gulped. This guy was just as bold as Katsuki. The main difference was that he was more passive-aggressive rather than straight up I-will-murder-you like Katsuki was.

Katsuki smirked at the other teen and got in his face until they were eye-to-eye. "Ohhh? That so? Right back 'atcha, then. I'll take your challenge seriously."

If anything, that statement surprised the majority of Katsuki's class, who didn't expect him to do more than mock the mass of students who hadn't made it into heroics. But Katsuki was more than willing to stoke the fire of competition a little more. "The Entrance Exam was more geared towards those with Quirks best suited for combat, but that doesn't mean there aren't monsters still hiding in this crowd somewhere. You'd have to be dumb as hell to think there'd be no competition outside of the Heroics Course. A Quirk like Eraser Head's, one that erases other Quirks, would've been useless in that exam. He's still a Pro, though…there are probably other guys in here with Quirks kinda like his…"

Katsuki's grin turned feral. "Are you one of them? Well, whether you are or not, I'm looking forward to crushing each and every one of you! Don't make a disgrace out of yourselves and give me a nice little platform to jump off of on my way to the top!"

The other teen smirked dangerously in return. "I'm looking forward to it as well, you jackass."

Katsuki sneered at him, then glanced over his shoulder and grunted at Izuku. "Come on, Deku. You don't want Eri to be late for her lessons."

"O-oh, right!" Izuku stammered, then took Eri's hand and guided her towards the door. "Let's go, Eri!"

"Okay…" She looked really nervous about all the eyes of the crowd suddenly on her, but fortunately they had the scariest guy in the school acting as a human bulldozer.

Katsuki snarled viciously at the students in the hall, who had turned their attention to Eri out of surprise. " _Move_ , before I murder you all."

They backed off at his very real threat, giving Izuku and Eri the chance to follow Katsuki out of the crowd and into the hall. They escaped by turning a corner to the stairs, where Izuku and Eri had to go up and Katsuki had to go down.

"Thanks for that, Katsuki," Izuku sighed in relief. "I wasn't sure if we were gonna get out in time or not."

"Well, you still owe me extra-spicy chicken wings, so I'll add a drink on that tab," Katsuki replied casually as he started walking downstairs.

To Izuku's surprise, Eri actually called after the volatile teen. "Um…thank you!"

Katsuki paused on the steps and glanced over his shoulder at her, his face expressionless. He studied her for a moment before turning back and moving on. "Yeah, well…you're welcome, I guess. Don't slack off on your lessons."

"I-I won't!" She stammered back.

* * *

After making their way past the blockade of teenagers, Izuku took Eri to the Principal's office to meet with Nezu and All Might for Eri's lessons. Tsukauchi was there as well, sitting in a chair along the wall to the Principal's side.

"Come in, come in," Nezu welcomed them. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you," Izuku said, guiding Eri to one of the chairs in front of Nezu's desk. He took a seat beside her and smiled at All Might and Tsukauchi, who nodded at them.

"Tea?" Nezu offered.

Izuku glanced at Eri, who looked at him and gave a small nod. "Yes, please."

"Right," Nezu began to get the tea going and addressed them while they waited. "First of all, let me thank you for helping All Might and Detective Tsukauchi with Eri. You've been a big help, young man."

"She needed help," Izuku said meekly, embarrassed by the praise.

Nezu only smiled. "It takes guts to speak up to the Symbol of Peace and a police detective about a person's well-being. This will certainly help Eri in the long run, as well. Speaking of which, how are you doing today, Eri?"

Eri ducked her head shyly, playing with the edge of her dress. "I'm okay…"

"I'm happy to hear that," the Principal finished making their tea and poured it into a pair of small cups, which he then passed to the children. "Careful with that, it's still hot. Blow on it for a bit so you don't scald your mouths. Eri, I'm going to explain what's happening here, but if at any time you don't feel comfortable, let Izuku know, alright? From what we understand, you don't know how to control your Quirk. Is that correct?"

"Yes…"

"Do you know how your Quirk works?"

Eri bit her lip. "I don't know…I-it just makes things disappear…"

Nezu's voice was gentle and soothing. "It's okay. That's what we're going to help you with here. We'll make sure you can control it from now on, alright?"

She didn't look so sure. "Will it really be fine?'

"Definitely. We've got some special teachers lined up to help you out!" Nezu assured her. "This isn't the first time U.A has taught a child like Eri how to control their Quirk. It's rare, but on occasion, children are born with Quirks that are simply too much for Quirk Counselors and standard teaching to handle. If their Counselor makes that decision, the children can be brought to U.A for lessons. We have the means to ensure the safety of children with volatile Quirks, after all. Thirteen, for example."

Izuku blinked in surprise. "Eh? Thirteen had to do this?"

"Of course!" All Might laughed. "He can create black holes, remember? Your average Quirk Counselor wouldn't even know where to begin with something like that. He spent a whole Summer here as a child when his Quirk first appeared to learn how to control it!"

"U.A as a school generally teaches its students how to use their Quirks for heroics," Nezu explained. "But we also place a large emphasis on teaching them control, so we've got a significant amount of experience teaching students how to channel really dangerous Quirks."

Izuku found that information quite fascinating. "I see…"

"It's not a well-known fact that we tutor such young children on occasion," Nezu admitted. "But U.A _is_ known for helping out the community whenever we can and teaching is our forte. Everything will be alright, Eri."

She looked more hopeful than before and that was enough for them. "Okay."

"Good," Nezu smiled again. "Now drink up. We'll go to Cementoss's facility after this."

* * *

Izuku was actually surprised by the number of teachers that were waiting for them. In addition to Nezu and All Might who had accompanied them here, Mr. Aizawa, Ectoplasm, and Cementoss were there as well. Fortunately, Eri had met them all in Izuku's various classes, so she wasn't as intimidated, but it was obvious that she was rather nervous with all the attention on her.

Cementoss waved at her cheerily. "Hello, Eri."

"H-hi…"

Nezu took the reigns to explain things. "Ectoplasm and Cementoss are here to help us get a better understanding of Eri's Quirk. Ectoplasm's clones and Cementoss's cement targets will allow Eri to use her Quirk without risking someone's life. In the event that something goes wrong, Eraser Head will momentarily shut down Eri's Quirk so she can regain control."

"Tsukauchi and I will be here as support," All Might said with a grin. "Although he'll be using this chance to get a Quirk profile for Eri written up."

Izuku knelt down next to Eri and took her hands. "Do you think you're ready for this?"

She bit her lip and glanced at the teachers. "No one is going to get hurt, right?"

"Right," he smiled at her. "I'll be here the whole time, too. Whenever you're ready, okay?"

Eri seemed to relax at that and nodded. "I'll try."

Cementoss gestured for Eri to come over, creating a small, simple target for her to use as he did so. "We'll start with me. The condition for Eri's Quirk to activate on an object is that she must be touching it, correct?"

"That's what I've seen," Izuku confirmed.

"We'll assume that to be the case, but some breathing room won't hurt, either," Aizawa decided. "Everyone will remain five meters away from Eri when she activates her Quirk. If I make the call to erase her Quirk, I'll do so immediately and we'll discuss how to continue from there on."

"Um…can you actually do that in your condition?" Izuku asked. Aizawa was, after all, mummified.

The Pro lifted one of his hands gingerly to expose his eyes from the bandages. It made him look weird, but they were the same, tired eyes as ever. "I'll make do."

"Alright!" Nezu clapped his hands- er, paws. "Whenever you're ready, Eri. You can begin anytime."

Eri approached the concrete slab and looked around, making sure everyone was away from her before she tried to use her Quirk. She squeezed her eyes shut and called on the power she'd always rejected before, placing her hands on the target. The teachers watched, on high alert, as her horn began to spark with energy. Slowly at first, but then it suddenly flared up and the power rushed through Eri's body and into the concrete.

Izuku had expected the concrete to get vaporized on the spot, so he was caught off-guard when literally nothing happened.

Eri frowned and tried to pour more into it, her horn still sparking with energy. She didn't get why it wasn't working, either. But it started to grow dangerously large, so Eraser Head activated his Quirk for an instant and stopped the surge of power. Eri's horn ceased to spark, but the concrete appeared to be untouched

Izuku was puzzled by what had happened. Looking at the concrete block, it hadn't been altered at all, unlike the tree that had been atomized. If her Quirk was Molecular Disintegration as he had assumed before, there would be nothing left of the cement.

Why hadn't she been able to disintegrate it? Eri had no control of her Quirk, so she was pouring the same amount of power into it this time that she had when she used it on the tree last week. Theoretically, it should have been vaporized just as it had been before. So what had changed?

"Well, the target wasn't vaporized, so we can safely assume her Quirk isn't Molecular Disintegration," Cementoss's voice jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Perhaps her Quirk is limited to living things?" Nezu prompted.

Ectoplasm grunted. "Let's try one of my clones and see if the effect is the same. It could be that her Quirk's effect is dependent on if the target is biological or not."

He opened his mouth and from it came forth a stream of ectoplasm, which quickly formed into a clone of himself. Ectoplasm backed up and glanced at Eri. "Try using your Quirk on my clone this time."

Eri frowned. "It won't hurt?"

"It won't," Ectoplasm promised. "My clones aren't actually living things, but they're biological enough to pass as them. They'll disappear quickly enough on their own."

They all gave Eri some space and waited as she readied herself to use her Quirk. She got her horn sparking and then reached out hesitantly to touch the clone.

They got the surprise of their lives when the clone melted back into raw ectoplasm. The glob of material splattered against the ground and turned into a puddle. It probably would have evaporated completely had Eraser Head not stopped Eri's Quirk again.

"I'm sorry!" Eri gasped, eyes wide. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"It's alright," Ectoplasm assured her. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Izuku found himself at a loss for words. She'd reverted the clone back into pure ectoplasm. That had nothing to do with Molecular Disintegration. Just what was her Quirk?

"Again, Ectoplasm," Nezu ordered. "Make a few of them this time. I need to watch a little more."

"Yes, sir," Ectoplasm opened his mouth and created more ten more clones for Eri to practice with.

They watched as Eri activated her Quirk for a third time and began to touch the clones, one after another, and liquified them each time. It happened faster and faster with each one she liquified, making it clear that Eri just had her foot on the gas pedal and was basically letting her Quirk run wild. But as she went to touch the sixth clone, Izuku saw her wobble slightly on her feet. A moment later and she staggered, setting off alarm bells in his head.

"Mr. Aizawa!" He exclaimed.

Aizawa and the others had noticed too, so he immediately erased Eri's Quirk and the surge of energy dissipated. Izuku rushed forward as Eri slumped back and would have fallen over had he not caught her.

"Eri?" Izuku shifted her so that she was sitting up and held one of his hands to her back.

She was panting hard, beads of sweat forming on her skin. Her face was flushed and her eyes were a little glazed. "Don't feel good…"

Izuku placed his free hand on her forehead softly and frowned. She was a bit too warm for his liking. "I think you've got a fever."

Ectoplasm approached them, observing Eri closely. "It's possible that using too much of her power makes her ill. That's not uncommon with energy-type Quirks. With all that energy focused on her horn, it makes sense that it'd produce enough heat to induce a fever given enough time."

"Her body isn't mature yet, so it's probably still adapting to her Quirk, too," Cementoss added.

All Might jerked his thumb towards the door. "In any case, let's get her to Recovery Girl for a check-up. There's no sense in chancing anything."

* * *

Recovery Girl held a thermometer up to Eri's mouth. "Say 'ah'!"

Eri, sitting on a bed in the older woman's office, glanced at Izuku for the okay, which he gave by nodding. She opened her mouth with a little "Ah!" and presented the nurse with a chance to gently place the thermometer under her tongue. It was held there for a few seconds until the device began to beep, prompting the nurse to pull the thermometer from Eri.

"Ninety-nine point eight," Recovery Girl read off. "She's got a mild fever, but she'll need to rest for the remainder of the day. Make sure she stays hydrated and gets something to eat as well."

"Okay," Inko, who had come to pick up Izuku and Eri after the training session, replied. She was worried when she found out they were in the nurse's office, though she could hardly say she was surprised. Izuku had been making a habit of visiting this place recently, a habit she hoped he would kick soon instead of inviting Eri along for the ride.

Well, it was early days yet. Of course there would be setbacks.

"You intend to keep training her in the use of her Quirk, don't you?" Recovery Girl asked the Principal and assembled heroes behind him. When they nodded, she went on. "Make sure you learn what her limit is quickly. If each session results in her getting a fever, I can't condone this training more than once a week. Weakening her body with sickness will have the opposite effect you're trying to achieve. You can add more sessions when you don't have to come by my office after one ends."

"Yes, ma'am!" All Might saluted. He would much rather stay on her good side. Recovery Girl was a scary, scary lady when she wanted to be. Also, she had needles.

Lots of needles.

Nezu had been quiet since they left the Training Dreamland, but now he broke his silence. "I think that was just what I needed to discern the true nature of Eri's Quirk."

Eraser Head glanced at the Principal. "You figured something out?"

"I believe so," Nezu's posture became contemplative and it made Izuku recall that the Principal's Quirk, Hi-Spec, granted him incredible intelligence which surpassed that of humans. "In the first instance where Eri has activated her Quirk on an object, it was believed that she altered its state of matter, but had that been the case with Ectoplasm's clone, it would have been vaporized or liquified, not reverted to a prior state. Also, she is not able to effect something that is not alive or at least biological enough to be considered a living thing.

"Thus I conclude that her Quirk does not affect a living thing's state of matter, but rather it's state of "time". She can rewind an object's time, apparently to the point of atoms if she so chooses. I believe that is what happened to the tree she erased. In the case of Ectoplasm's clones, she rewinds them into the raw substance they began in."

"As expected of you, sir," All Might praised Nezu. "I never would have even thought of that."

Tsukauchi was jotting the information down on his writing pad. "A Quirk that rewinds a living thing's state of time? Has that ever happened?"

"There are Quirks that stop aging or slow it down," Nezu recalled. "But I myself have never heard of a Quirk that rewinds one's state of time. It seems Eri has been gifted with a truly unique ability."

Izuku was just trying to process that information. A Quirk that could rewind objects, and apparently to a point before they even existed if enough power was used? That was incredible. If Eri could learn how to use her Quirk in small increments, there was an incredible range of ways she could apply it.

"Today's lesson was for the sole purpose of identifying Eri's Quirk and grasping how to approach her training in the future," the Principal explained. "Now that we know what her Quirk does, we'll use that information to provide her with lessons that give her the opportunity to fine-tune and control it. Her Quirk is still volatile- as such, I don't feel it would be wise for us to continue within the limits of this "premier" session. As Recovery Girl said, once a week is the limit right now and that's absolutely fine. There's no need to rush; the best teaching is done with patience."

Nezu smiled at Eri encouragingly. "You did very well today, Eri. You and Izuku are dismissed now."

Izuku offered the little girl a smile of his own. "Ready to go home?"

She nodded and held her arms out, prompting Izuku to hoist her up and hold the girl against his chest before he turned to the teachers. "Thanks. I guess we'll see you tomorrow?"

"That's right," Mr. Aizawa grunted. "By the way, there's a pop quiz in class tomorrow."

Izuku _really_ hoped he was joking, but he made a mental note to text everyone just in case as he left U.A with Eri and his mother.

Aizawa wasn't exactly famous for jokes, after all.

* * *

"Ugggghh!" Katsuki snarled at the after-game statistics screen on his laptop. They'd won the match, but his score was lower than he would've liked.

Izuku rubbed his forehead in the seat beside him, also less than impressed with his scoring. They were off their game thanks to the announcement of the Sports Festival. The gaming competition they had would take place right after the event, so they had to train for the festival on top of keeping their gaming skills sharp.

Eri, who was sitting next to Izuku and tucking into the dinner Inko had made, leaned over to the teen and whispered in his ear. "What's he mad for?"

"We didn't do so great," Izuku replied, frowning at the screen glumly.

"Didn't you win?" She didn't understand the game, but she knew that whenever the word "victory" came up, it meant the boys won. They won pretty often, so it was weird to see them disappointed by it now.

"Yeah, but you can't just win," Izuku told her. "In this game and even in heroics, you gotta push yourself way further to reach the top. It's…it's not easy."

"You boys should probably call it a night," Inko suggested. "You've been at it for hours now. Besides, it's almost time for Katsuki to head home."

She was right and they knew it. Izuku leaned his head into his hands, trying to massage the oncoming headache he could tell was coming out of his temple. These next three weeks before the Sports Festival and gaming competition were going to be brutal…

"Argh, I can't stand this!" Katsuki yelled, making everyone else in the kitchen jump. He grabbed Izuku by the arm and yanked him out of his seat and towards the door. "Deku! We're going running!"

"Wahh, okay! Okay!" Izuku yelped as he was dragged out of the apartment.

Eri could only blink at the door Katsuki had dragged Izuku through a moment earlier as she tried to process what had just happened. "Why are they running?"

"Probably to get all that pent-up energy out of their systems," Inko smiled, setting a gentle hand on Eri's shoulder. It was rare that Eri was left alone with someone other than Izuku, but she didn't mind being alone with Inko. The woman was sweet and calming for the little girl. "They both have to work very hard, so when it gets to be a bit much, they find a way to relieve all that stress. More often than not, they go running or work out some other way."

Eri frowned. That didn't make any sense. Why run or work out if they were already tired?

"That's kinda weird," she decided aloud.

Inko laughed, prompting the little girl to smile. "Yes, it can be. Now, let's get you into your bath, little missy! By the time Izuku gets back, he's going to be very sweaty and smelly- you don't want to take a bath after he does!"

That made Eri giggle, and the peals of laughter coming from her made Inko hope that maybe, just maybe, she was going to recover from her ordeal sooner than later.

* * *

Izuku ran after Katsuki for the better part of an hour around town, until they finally took a break. As they leaned over with their hands on their knees, sweating and panting for breath, Izuku realized that their run had taken them to the same beach he'd cleaned up nearly a year ago with All Might.

The sun had already set, but the starlight provided enough lighting for them to see clearly enough, in addition to the street lamps dotted here and there on the sidewalk lining the beach itself. There was no one else around for the time being, not even the usual couples that had been using the place as a popular dating spot.

Katsuki took in a huge gulp of air and practically tore off his top with a growl. "Damn, it's starting to get hot outside again."

"It won't be long before Summer, after all," Izuku panted, also shedding his drenched shirt.

"Phew," Katsuki blew out some air as he finally caught his breath. He was quiet for a moment, but then started to speak. "Are you worried about the Sports Festival?"

"W-well yeah, but you are too, right?"

He huffed. "Not like you. You're scared of people seeing your Quirk, aren't you?"

Izuku stiffened. "Is it that obvious?"

"Idiot. I know you too well," Katsuki muttered, turning towards the ocean waves as they lapped at the shoreline. "You can't hide shit like that from me."

The green-haired teen glanced at his hand, clenching it into a fist. "Honestly…yeah. I'm…I'm scared out of my mind. There's no way I'm going to be able to win without giving it my all, but…I'll have to use my Quirk's full strength to fight you and the others. There'll be thousands of people watching and it's gonna be broadcast live…the whole country might see my Quirk for what it really is. Someone is gonna recognize it and call me out…"

"It doesn't matter what the small-fry think," Katsuki snapped back. "None of them matter as long as you reach the top."

Izuku smiled at that. He had a point, though it didn't alleviate any of his fears.

"Plus, I'm going to kick everyone's asses and steal the show, so they'll probably forget about your Quirk," Katsuki went on, a large, shit-eating grin forming on his face. "They're gonna find out they should be waaaaay more scared of me than they should be of you!"

Izuku sweat-dropped. _Is he trying to encourage me or insult me?_

Katsuki suddenly turned around to look at Izuku, his mouth set in a line and his eyes sharp. "Use your Quirk."

"Eh?"

"Use your Quirk," Katsuki ordered again. "Right here. Turn the flames on high and let me see it."

"Ehh?!" Izuku protested. "Katsuki, someone might see!"

"I don't give a shit," the other teen growled.

"But…" Izuku glanced around nervously. There wasn't anyone around, but still…

"Right there! You ain't gonna be able to fight at full-throttle if you keep freezing up like this," Katsuki muttered. The teen lifted one hand and scratched the back of his head for a moment, thinking. "How about this? I'll say something to make you chill out, then you turn the flames on?"

"…how the heck are _you_ gonna make me chill out?"

"Fuck off. I'm trying to help, dammit. Think of it like a trigger phrase or something, but in a good way. Something that helps you get past your nerves."

Izuku frowned. "But…how could you make me settle down enough to…"

"I'm not scared of you."

The words made Izuku's eyes go wide. He felt the breath leave his lungs as he stared at Katsuki, who shoved his hands into his pockets and just looked at Izuku steadily. "I'm not scared of you."

"What…"

"Don't think about it," Katsuki interrupted. "Don't try to figure it out like you do with everything else. Just focus and settle down."

Izuku gulped and squeezed his eyes shut. It was a little easier to focus with his eyes closed, allowing the dark to calm his nerves. "S-say it again, please?"

"I'm not scared of you."

The words flowed over his ears and somehow, Izuku found it easier to just breathe. Like they removed a weight from his shoulders. He felt so very calm…

And emerald fire wreathed itself around him.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked at Katsuki, who was studying the flames. The air was quiet for several seconds as Katsuki thought to himself in silence. Izuku waited, feeling the tension building up beneath his skin again.

Katsuki shook his head slowly, a perplexed expression on his face. "What the hell about this is so scary, anyways…geez, people really are idiots. I don't get them at all."

"I'm not scared of you," Katsuki repeated at last. "Your fire doesn't scare me at all."

That he could say that, even while looked at the green fire and the flowing, fiery horns atop Izuku's head, brought the boy such a sense of relief that he couldn't even express himself with words.

"Th-thank you…"

Katsuki snorted. "Don't start crying on me. I'll give you something to cry about for real if you do."

Izuku laughed, wiping his eyes to prevent any tears from leaving the ducts. "I won't."

"Good. Now turn the barbecue off and let's get home. I'm starving again, dammit." ****

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for being late, guys! I got so caught up with college exams and work that this ended up coming out later than anticipated! Anyways, I gotta go to work soon, so these review responses will have to be quick! Sorry!**

 **Scarlet Ruby Rose: Wait, wait, wait! Does Todoroki now think that Deku is related to Endeavor in some way?**

 **-Well...who knows? Guess you'll find out~ ;)**

 **Tomoe Mami: Hey darkfire. :D I definitely think you should put this fic on AO3. Izuku did a great job beating Noumu.**

 **-I agree and I did! I just got my account today! Izuku had to work pretty hard to take Noumu down!**

 **Divine above question: A lot of writers think too much fluff is bad, I disagree.**

 **-I find myself agreeing with your opinion, good sir/madame.**

 **ragingfire6667: I love what you have done so for but I am tentative on your story going further. I simply do not like what you are doing with Eri for the simple reason so many stories are ruined when there is constantly a little cute girl that needs to be protected and watched at all times by the main protagonist. Maybe ill be wrong but either way its just not believable for all these pro heroes to allow a young civilian to be allowed into the school and actively watch and be so close to their proceedings.**

 **-Your concern is absolutely valid! However, let me just reassure you that while Eri DOES have a central role in the story, she won't be constantly taking up** **screen time and presenting the issue you suggested. In fact, I hope this chapter helped to alleviate some of those worries and gave you more information about why U.A is letting Eri stick around.**

 **That's all for now! As ever, please review and thanks for reading! Now...**

 **I GOTTA RUN TO WORK!**


	11. The Sports Festival Begins

_Chapter Eleven: The Sports Festival Begins_

Today was the day.

The last three weeks had been crazy. Between training for the Sports Festival and preparing for their upcoming video game competition, Izuku and Katsuki had been practically living together. They'd worked themselves to the point of exhaustion until yesterday, when Katsuki's mother had sent them packing to their own individual beds.

"You two look like fucking _zombies_ ," Bakumom had snapped, sweat-dropping at the sight of the two exhausted teens pretty much the moment they got home from school. "Go to bed already! You'll be useless tomorrow if you don't sleep!"

She had driven Izuku home and told Inko in no uncertain terms that he and Katsuki needed to sleep. Inko had been at home with Eri all day since she was tired from training the day before. When Bakumom quite literally dragged him into the apartment, Inko sent him straight to bed and Eri volunteered to make sure he got to his room.

Needless to say, Izuku passed out the second he hit the bed and slept all night long. Thankfully, the extra sleep was just what he needed, and he woke up feeling refreshed and ravenous.

Inko was cooking up breakfast when he finally awoke, Eri sprawled over his torso and snoring peacefully. He stretched with a groan, feeling his joints pop pleasantly. The motion stirred Eri, but she only blinked at him sleepily for a few moments before gripping his t-shirt with her hands and letting out a whine.

Izuku smiled at the sleepy child. "Breakfast time, Eri."

He could literally smell the cinnamon rolls from here and the scent had him inwardly drooling. Eri only pouted and gripped his shirt tighter. "Don't wanna…"

"What if I carry you?"

"Mmuh."

"That counts as a yes," he decided aloud, hugging her close to him as he rolled out of bed and stood up. Izuku shifted her so that she had her arms wrapped around his neck, making it easier to carry her.

Inko was waiting for them in the kitchen and- surprisingly- Katsuki and Mitsuki/Bakumom.

Inko smiled at the pair. "There's our two sleepyheads. I was about to ask Katsuki to wake you up."

Mitsuki snickered at the sight of Izuku carrying a half-comatose Eri. "Getting an early start learning parenthood, eh?"

Izuku reddened and his mother made it worse. "Being a good dad is important, you know. Lots of women find that an attractive quality."

Steam began to pour from Izuku's face, making Mitsuki and Katsuki cackle. Inko merely giggled and Eri remained mostly-asleep, blissfully unaware of her guardian's embarrassment.

Mitsuki turned her attention to Katsuki. "What are you laughing at? You're just as guilty. You and Izuku spend more time with Eri than anyone else, you wannabe daddy."

Katsuki sneered at her. "No way, I'm obviously her awesome uncle, you old hag."

"Rude little brat."

"Middle-aged wench."

"Is breakfast done?!" Izuku stammered.

Inko was still smiling from ear-to-ear. "Yes. You two better eat up."

The two boys dug in while Inko managed the kitchen and Mitsuki did her best to get the teenagers riled up. That meant taunting them with stuff she knew would drive Katsuki crazy and make Izuku turn shades of red that most people wouldn't be capable of. But it set a tone of normalcy for the pair and kept their minds occupied.

Eri slowly woke up from the promise of food and continuous banter of Mitsuku and the teens. Izuku hadn't moved her from his lap since she had been so sleepy, so she remained there and snacked on his breakfast. He didn't mind- he'd filled his plate up and there were lots of extras. Heck, Katsuki occasionally snagged something from Izuku's plate if he really wanted it. Izuku couldn't get away with taking Katsuki's food, though.

Only Eri could get away with that.

When breakfast was done and the boys had to leave, Inko, Mitsuki, and Eri saw them off at the door.

"Be safe, okay?" Inko said with a smile, but there was a worried crease on her forehead.

"We'll be watching everything on TV," Mitsuki added. "Masaru is gonna join us later. He just wanted to pop into the office early so he could take some time off for the event."

Katsuki grunted. "Sure thing."

Eri stepped forward and held her arms out at Izuku. He knelt down and hugged her, squeezing the little girl gently. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Izuku smiled back gently.

When they pulled apart, Eri looked at Katsuki shyly. "Um…"

"I don't need luck," Katsuki told her. "I'm gonna win the whole thing, anyways."

Eri bit her lip and frowned, glancing from Katsuki to Izuku and back again. "Can you both win?"

Mitsuki laughed. "Of course they can! They'll both win first place!"

Katsuki looked like he wanted to correct her, but he paused at the smile on her face. It was wide, innocent, and devoid of any sign of mercy.

That was Bakumom's happy murder smile. The "if you correct me I am going to kill you so dead you won't even know you died" smile.

Even Katsuki knew to fear _that_ smile. He wisely kept his mouth shut.

* * *

Class 1A was milling around in their waiting room at the big stadium on U.A's campus, waiting impatiently for the event to begin. The check in for outside visitors had been going on for hours- not that surprising given that the school had just been attacked by villains. But the security check was almost over and they knew that any minute now-

"Everyone! Have you prepared yourselves?!" Tenya suddenly opened the door and shouted. "We'll be leaving in just a moment!"

Izuku sucked in a deep breath as his heart began to pound wildly.

"Izuku."

The boy jumped at the calm, deeper voice of his classmate. Shoto had never gone out of his way to talk to him before, so it startled Izuku that he would do so now.

"Y-yes?"

"Can I have a word? In private."

"Oh, um…but we're about to…"

"It won't take long."

"…well, okay," he managed, then quietly followed Shoto out of the waiting room and down the hall. They turned a corner and stopped there.

Shoto studied him in silence for a moment or two. "From an objective standpoint, I think I'm probably stronger than you."

"U-umm…y-yeah, I…"

"That being said, you've got an unusual flame."

Izuku froze, but remained silent, waiting for Shoto to go on. "You know my father is Endeavor, right? He's been the number two hero for a while now. What most people don't know is before that, he took on a certain criminal…and lost spectacularly. In the end, All Might had to step in and defeat the villain in Endeavor's place."

"The funny thing is…your Quirk is a lot like that villain's. Like Heat Viper's."

Izuku's blood turned to ice in his veins.

 _He knows._

"Well, maybe that's an overstatement," Shoto said with a shrug. "Your Quirk might be similar, but from what I can tell, you aren't capable of causing mass destruction on the same scale as that villain. But it's similar enough, even if it's just bad luck on your part."

"Heat Viper's flame commanded all others. Endeavor was stupid enough to challenge him with a Fire Quirk and he lost without even touching him. Your Quirk seems to resemble something like that with how you can absorb other flames, even if it's not exactly the same, but that's fine with me. You remember how I said during class introductions that I would never use my left side? Against you, I'll make an exception."

"What?" Izuku squeaked. He was already rattled and now Shoto pulled _this?_ "Wh-why?"

"I hate my old man," Shoto said. "I don't really want to disclose why to someone I barely know, but I'll tell you that much. He hates it whenever someone brings up his defeat against Heat Viper. Your Quirk is probably close enough to remind him of it…and I'm going to crush that power like he never could. Just seeing the look on his face would be worth it."

Shoto began to walk off. "Sorry, but I've got no intention of getting friendly with anyone in the class. At least fight back enough to give that bastard a show."

"Th-that's…" Izuku feebly protested. He was shaking to his core- Shoto didn't know he'd struck the nail on the head and then he'd gone and upped the ante even more. It was too much.

However, as Shoto turned the corner, he found himself face-to-face with 1A's resident bombing king.

Katsuki glared at him. "Are you finally done spilling your guts?"

"Eavesdropping, huh?" Shoto's eyes narrowed. "Somehow I'm not surprised."

"Really? This is me caring," Katsuki sneered. "Now _fuck off."_

Shoto shoved his hands into his pockets and walked past the volatile teen, evidently irritated.

Katsuki watched him go for a second before turning the corner to find that Izuku had slid down the wall to sit on the floor. The green-haired teen was taking a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"Th-thanks," Izuku managed weakly.

"Don't be, I'm not going to hold your hand through this," Katsuki muttered. "He was just going over my bullshit limit."

"Still…"

"…"

"…I don't know if I can do this," Izuku blurted suddenly. He felt sick to his stomach and it was a little too hard to breathe.

Katsuki's eyes narrowed and he mentally slapped every bullseye he had onto Shoto. He knew Izuku better than almost anyone else and he knew damn well when the timid boy was about to completely lose his cool. Of course, that wasn't to say that it was all Shoto's fault- Izuku had already been rattled by the very idea of this event, but icy hot had more or less set him off.

"Katsuki! We gotta go!" That was Eijirou calling to him from down the hall.

"I got it, give me a sec," Katsuki shouted back. He walked a little closer to Izuku so that he was out of sight of anyone else and dropped to sit on his heels.

"…do you need Recovery Girl?" He asked quietly.

Izuku gulped and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try and steady himself. He started to feel a little less shaky after a moment and let his head fall back against the wall. "I…think I'm okay."

"…" Katsuki studied him for a few more seconds before he nodded shortly and stood back up, offering a hand to the other teen. Izuku took it and stood with Katsuki's help.

"Just try and chill out," Katsuki told him. "The crowd isn't gonna try and pick you out, y'know? Don't think about it and just focus on winning."

"I know," Izuku took one more deep breath and exhaled. He offered Katsuki a shaky smile. "I'll be fine. Really!"

He wasn't buying that. Not for a second was Katsuki buying that. But calling Izuku out right now would only make him freak out again, so…for the time being, he'd play along.

"Good," Katsuki slapped him on the back and then led the meek teenager after the rest of their class.

* * *

 **"** **ARE YOU READY?!"**

Present Mic's voice was answered by the roar of thousands of people in the colosseum, all eager to get the event underway. The Pro laughed from the announcer's box and continued to rile up the crowds. **"Welcome to the U.A Sports Festival, audience! Gather round, mass media! It's the biggest event of the year! The newest, youngest hero candidates are about to run wild and go at each other to claim that spot at the top!"**

 **"** **It's time to meet our contestants this year! Coming out now is the highlight class of the first years! The students who fought off villains in their first week of training! This is Hero Class 1A!"**

The students all walked out together amidst the roaring crowd, each of them trying to keep their nerves under control. Well, most of them were. Some, like Katsuki and Shoto, were either raring to go or just didn't care.

 _Holy crap,_ Izuku thought with a gulp. It felt like the colosseum was shaking from an earthquake, but it was all from the screaming crowds.

 **"** **Next up! They haven't been getting as much airtime, but this class is full of talent too! Hero Class 1B enters the stage! Following our Hero Course is General Studies Classes 1C, 1D, and 1E! The Support Course Classes 1F, 1G, and 1H are here too! And last but not least, the Business Course Classes 1I, 1J, and 1K! All of U.A's first years have now arrived!"**

The mass of students all gathered on the field in front of a podium, upon which stood the Pro Hero, Midnight, adorned in her hero costume. The costume in question had been designed to make full use of her Quirk, but whether by necessity or personal preference, it was quite the outfit.

Izuku dryly noticed that Minoru seemed like he was about to dehydrate himself from all the drool leaving his mouth. The way he looked at Midnight was just…gross.

Katsuki noticed too and opted to remove one half of a bullseye from Shoto and slapped it onto the P.A.L in question. Apparently, he had not yet learned his lesson.

Midnight cracked a flogger style whip to silence the crowd and get the attention of the students. "Quiet, everyone! It's time for the player's pledge! Representing the first years as a whole is Katsuki Bakugo from Class 1A!"

"Eh?!" Izuku whipped towards Katsuki, who just strolled towards the podium.

"Well, he did get first place in the Entrance Exam," Hanta admitted.

A loud huff made the boys turn their heads towards a couple of students from the General Studies class. They looked rather irritated as one of them retorted in annoyance. "Only in the Hero Course."

Izuku cringed away from the obvious venom. Eijirou sighed uneasily. "It's obvious she hates our guts."

"Isn't that mostly Katsuki's fault anyways?" Denki asked.

Katsuki made it to the top of the podium and paused in front of the mic. The mass of students and watching crowds waiting in silence for several seconds before he opened his mouth.

 _"_ _I pledge,"_ Katsuki drawled. _"That I'll be number one."_

Virtually every member of 1A mentally screamed. _I KNEW HE'D SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!_

The rest of the first years were outright pissed.

"What the hell?!"

"Stop messing around!"

"Don't be so full of yourself, 1A!"

"You sludge bastard!"

Tenya started chopping his arms at Katsuki like a short-circuiting robot. "Why would you be so disrespectful?! You're representing us all!"

Katsuki kept a straight face, but his expression visibly darkened a moment later. _"Sorry, but you've got the wrong idea. This ain't a pledge, it's a declaration of war to all the classes. I'm not losing to any of you, Hero Course or otherwise."_

 _"_ _And especially not to some entitled brat with a third-rate fire Quirk and a loser dad who never gets first place."_

An _epic_ silence filled the entirety of the stadium as they processed that statement.

Izuku felt all the blood drain from his face. _Did he just?_

Katsuki turned around back to the mass of students and glared at Shoto, then stuck his thumb towards the ground. _"Both of you can go sit in the corner like the background characters you are."_

Oh. _Fuck_.

Katsuki walked off the podium then, not giving even a single shit about the utter havoc he left in his wake. He shoved his hands into his pockets and stood in silence next to Izuku, who stared at his best friend as though he were a live grenade just seconds from exploding.

 **"** **Whoowee!"** Present Mic exclaimed, bringing the crowds back to life. **"You can really feel the tension after that! Talk about bold! Midnight, get things going already! I wanna see the bloodbath!"**

"With pleasure," Midnight was grinning wildly. "Let's get things started right away! This first game is what you'd call a qualifier for the later rounds. Many drink their tears here! And the first game is…"

A large, hologram screen popped up behind Midnight, upon which was a whizzing list of potential games not unlike a slot machine.

The Pro hero cracked her whip and the list stopped dead on a game titled "Obstacle Race" that Midnight immediately began to explain. "The Obstacle Race! All eleven classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium- about four kilometers!"

She cracked her whip again and the smile on her face took on a hint of something…sadistic. "Our school's selling point is freedom. As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do! Now everyone, take your places!"

The mass of students crowded around the exit of the colosseum, all of them tense and ready to go as soon as the bell sounded three times.

Izuku swallowed hard. This was it.

 _One ring._

He jumped as he felt a fist lightly bump on his shoulder, followed by an unusually quiet Katsuki amidst the silence of the stadium.

"I'm not scared of you," he muttered. "So don't go and lose here."

 _Two rings._

Unwillingly, a small smile found its place on Izuku's face. "I won't."

 _Three rings._

"START!" Shouted Midnight.

Immediately, chaos ensued.

 **"** **Alright, here's the play-by-play!"** Mic laughed crazily. **"Are you ready for the commentary, Mummy Man?!"**

A tired and irritated sounding Aizawa was heard speaking right after Mic. **"You're the one who forced me to come."**

 **"** **Let's get started, Mummy Man! What should we pay attention to in the early stages?"**

 **"** **This part right now."**

Every single student was trying to rush through the relatively tight exit, packing them all together and making it nearly impossible to get out. The tunnel acted like a choke point, preventing anyone but the leaders from making progress.

"Like that's stopping me!" Katsuki grinned savagely and lowered his hands, then unleashed a stream of rapid explosions to make him fly above the crowd.

Izuku spread One for All throughout his body, then let his feet catch fire before he leapt for the walls, bouncing back and forth with his flames and enhanced strength. Katsuki was ahead of him since he was going in a straight line, but they both made it over the swarm of students in a matter of seconds.

They made it out just in time to avoid a blast of ice that smothered the ground and trapped many of the students behind them by their feet. Izuku glanced over his shoulder, unsurprised to see Shoto skating over the ice after them.

However, not every student was caught by the flash freeze. Yuga, Momo, Eijirou, and Mashirao easily leapt over the wave of ice.

"That's too naive, Shoto!" Momo yelled after him.

Shoto didn't look too surprised that most of the students who avoided his attack were from 1A. Although he had to admit, he was a little impressed that many other students from the other classes managed to get through with only minimal trouble.

 **"** **They're steadily making their way through the first part of the course!"** Mic exclaimed. **"And just ahead of them is…the first obstacle!"**

Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto all stopped dead as the earth beneath their feet shook. A moment later, several of the huge, zero-point robots from the Entrance Exam appeared in their path, blocking the road. Their pause gave the students behind them a chance to catch up, only to find that they had a much bigger problem on their hands.

 **"** **Robo Inferno!"**

Denki's jaw dropped. "The zero-pointers from the exam?!"

"Nine, ten, eleven…" Kyoka bit her lip as she counted them. "Jeez, there's over a dozen of them…"

"This is what they used in the general entrance exam?" Momo wondered aloud as she stared at the steel monsters. "Where did U.A get the resources for this?"

The lead robot lunged at them, one of its giant arms swinging down at the mass of students.

Shoto's eyes narrowed as he built up a massive amount of power in his right side- his ice half. "If they went through all this trouble, I wish they would've prepared something better. Since my shitty old man is watching."

The temperature around Shoto dropped incredibly quick, then he swiped his left hand towards the robot, unleashing a literal glacier at the steel colossus and freezing it instantly mid-blow.

The sheer mass of ice was astounding, so much so that Izuku found his eyes growing wide in shock. He'd known the Shoto was powerful given that he was one of only two recommended students in 1A and from how easily he'd won in combat training, but this was on a completely different level. Whether it was the upper limit of his power or not, Izuku wasn't sure, but he was willing to bet it was up there.

Shoto began to run through the robot's legs, intending to exit out on the other side. He knew the mass of steel would fall over in just a few moments, but he wasn't expecting to hear a loud bang above him.

He whipped his eyes up in time to see Katsuki go airborne just above the robot's head. The explosive teen roared down at Shoto as he pointed his right hand at the frozen robot, holding the same arm with his other hand. "I told you to _sit the fuck down!"_

Izuku yelped as Katsuki unleashed a horrifyingly large explosion, blowing the frozen robot into smithereens. Comets of ice and steel began to rain down on Shoto, stopped only by another rapid burst of ice from the teenager. Shoto was saved from being crushed, but he ended up blocking his own path as a result of that.

Izuku seized the chance to leap over the frozen chunks of robot with his All Flare and One for All combo, getting ahead of Shoto and the rest of the student body again. That put him between the clamoring students behind him and over a dozen angry robots ahead.

Fortunately, Izuku had realized that the robots were actually really slow. They were huge and if you got hit, of course you'd be incapacitated, but it was easy to avoid them once you got a grasp on their range of motion and speed.

He caught up to Katsuki after jumping over the robots, landing safely on the ground once more to run after his friend. "Katsuki, wasn't that too much? You could've killed him!"

"Shut up!" Katsuki retorted, shaking the pain out of his right arm. "It was gonna fall over anyway! Plus he's pissing me off!"

"That's my line!"

The two teens whipped their heads over their shoulders just in time to see Shoto rushing at them on a stream of ice. The normally stoic boy was scowling after them. "You're starting to get on my nerves!"

 **"** **Check it out! Class 1A's Katsuki, Izuku, and Shoto are in the lead! They cleared the first obstacle so easily! But they better watch out!"**

Izuku realized after a second that Fumikage, Hanta, and Kyoka were right behind them. Not far behind, Tenya, Momo, Denki, Ochako, and Mina were catching up, along with a whole group that consisted mostly of 1A students, several 1Bs and a few others.

 **"** **The leaders are being hunted down! Those giant robots were small fry for the first year's golden eggs!"** Mic shouted excitedly.

 **"** **Well, those robots might be big and scary, but they're just dumb hunks of metal. If you watch for a few moments, you'll start to see openings."** That was Aizawa, who sounded almost bored.

"Stop getting in my way!" Shoto snapped as he shot a blast of ice after Katsuki.

Katsuki leapt above the ice with an explosion and sneered back. "Look at that! I finally made you mad! I'm gonna blow you into smithereens, icy hot!"

He fired another blast at Shoto, who blocked with a shield of ice. Izuku yelped and dove for the ground to avoid the chunks of ice that went flying everywhere as a result.

"And while you three are busy trying to kill each other…"

Izuku's head whipped up in surprise as Kyoka rushed past them in a sprint. "I'll be taking the lead, thanks!"

"Hey! Get the hell back here!" Katsuki roared, forgetting Shoto in favor of chasing after her.

"Ah-ha! Finally, a girl in first place!"

Katsuki's pupils shrank at the voice. His P.A.L senses were tingling.

"It's time for my special move!" Minoru declared, throwing purple spheres along the ground and bouncing off of them to close the distance to the lead. He finally grabbed a pair of spheres and held them in each hand as he flew towards Kyoka.

Kyoka saw him coming over her shoulder and blanched. "Don't you dare!"

"I'm killing two birds with one stone!" Minoru cried with glee. "Grape Ru-"

 ** _"_** ** _DIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

Katsuki launched himself upwards with another blast and drove a ruthless kick into Minoru's balls. A sonic boom roared out as Minoru was punted up high into the sky, where he disappeared with a glimmer of light.

 **"** **OH MY GAWD!"** Mic screamed in horror. **"I FELT THAT JUST WATCHING! HOW CRUEL!"**

 **"** **Stop screwing around,"** Aizawa deadpanned.

Kyoka grinned over her shoulder. "I owe you one, Katsuki!"

"Get back behind me, heart-throb!" He snarled after her as he came down to earth.

"Not gonna happen!"

"WHOA! Kyoka, stop!" Eijirou yelled as he caught up with the pack.

Kyoka screamed as her feet suddenly found empty air and she realized she had just run over a sheer cliff. Only Hanta grabbing her with his tape and yanking her back saved her from falling.

"Sh-shit," Kyoka managed as she sat down hard, staring at the black abyss below them.

 **"** **It's the second obstacle! The Fall! How are they gonna get through this one?!"**

The Fall was an enormous pit with tall spires of rock jutting out of it, each attached to others like it by long tendrils of rope. Many of the students stopped at the front to figure out how to approach it, giving the runners in the back a chance to catch up.

"Whoa…" Ochako stared at the blackness with wide eyes. "When did they make this?"

"It was probably Power Loader," Izuku muttered as he studied the spires of rock.

"It's no big deal if you just fly over!" Katsuki snapped, launching himself back into the air with explosions.

Kyoka yelled after him. "Hey! Get back here with my first place!"

"Not gonna happen!" Katsuki mimicked her earlier taunt with a cackle while Kyoka waved her fist after him and yelled some more.

Shoto walked to one of the ropes and fired himself across the abyss on a stream of ice, glaring after Katsuki in silence.

Izuku realized that most of the spires had relatively wide platforms, meaning it'd be easy to land on if he jumped. They also weren't spaced too far apart despite the sheer depth and length of the pit.

He crouched, spreading One for All through his body again and set his feet alight. "I'm coming after you!"

Izuku began to leap to the rock spires, carefully gauging his landings and pausing at each one so that his momentum would carry him too far.

"I guess great minds think alike!"

Izuku whipped his head around in surprise as Tsuyu landed on a spire nearby. Her frog-like powers made it a simple task. He was so surprised that he tripped as he landed and fell on his butt, but thankfully didn't go over the edge. "Ow!"

"Don't stop now, Izuku! They're catching up!" Tsuyu shouted as she leapt ahead of him. Izuku looked over his shoulder and realized she was right. Steadily, the other students were beginning to cross the abyss with ease.

"I'm not gonna lose!" Izuku told himself, getting back up and jumping again. Katsuki and Shoto had already made it to the other side.

He made it to the other side and began running again, keeping both Quirks active so that he could travel faster. Before long he reached the final blockade, which Katsuki and Shoto had begun to navigate.

Present Mic cackled wildly. **"It's the last obstacle! This one is called…Danger Mines! Look out kiddies, it's a minefield! If you look close enough, you can see where the mines are, but they're everywhere! You better be careful! By the way, these mines aren't strong enough to seriously hurt you, but they're loud and flashy enough to make you piss your pants!"**

 **"** **That depends on the person,"** Aizawa retorted dryly.

 **"** **But what the heck, the two leaders are already halfway across! They're making this obstacle look easy!"**

That was the understatement of the century. Katsuki was flying across the land mines and Shoto was leaving a frozen trail in his wake as he rushed on foot. The pair of teens were fighting as they went, sending blasts and bursts of ice at each other in an effort to trip the other up.

Izuku grit his teeth in frustration. They were moving so fast, he wasn't sure if he would be able to catch up in time.

 _Crap! I can't just jump carelessly, but I have to get ahead of them!_ Izuku thought, wracking his brain for a solution. Out of desperation, he finally decided on an idea. _I didn't wanna do this if I could avoid it, but I've got no choice!_

He crouched low and let One for All build up in one of his toes, simultaneously generating as much fire as he could from his feet to disguise the power-up. Pumping one hundred percent of One for All into his toe, he let the energy free in an enormous blast.

The force sent him sky high and launched him across the minefield. He sailed over Katsuki and Shoto, who whipped their heads up in total surprise.

 **"** **WHAAAAAT?! Izuku Midoriya just jumped most of the minefield! Wait- no, he cleared it in one go! Heads up, mass media! It's the kind of development you love!"**

Izuku landed on the other side- well, it was more like a crash and a scramble to get back on his feet- and began to run like hell. His toe was shattered and it hurt badly, but the adrenaline running through his system from the shock managed to dull the pain enough for him to ignore it. He ran as fast as he could, reaching the tunnel that lead back into the colosseum and desperately trying to stay ahead of the sound of explosions and ice rushing along the ground.

 **"** **The leaders have arrived back in the colosseum! In first place is the unexpected powerhouse of Class 1A! Izuku Midoriya just made a huge splash!"**

Izuku made it out into the other side and slowed to a stop, gasping for breath and wincing at the pain in his left foot. He leaned on his right, taking the weight off his foot and lightening the pain some.

Around him were the screaming crowds in the colosseum, roaring at the top of their lungs and making the arena shake like an earthquake.

It didn't really sink in until he looked up into the stands at the VIP section, where All Might was sitting and clapping for him, that it clicked. He'd done it. He'd actually done it.

 _I won!_

Tears started flowing from his eyes out of joy, but Izuku quickly tried to wipe them away as Katsuki made it just behind Shoto and jogged to a stop. The more volatile of the two teenagers panted and staggered past Izuku, eyes smoldering.

Izuku had caught his breath and glanced at his friend nervously. "G-good job, Katsuki…"

"Whatever," Katsuki growled, stalking by without so much as looking at him.

Izuku sighed, but he wasn't surprised. Katsuki _hated_ losing, even if it was to Izuku. He was going to be sore about that for a little while. On top of that, he was _pissed_ that Shoto had pulled ahead at the last second.

Only first place would satisfy Katsuki. Anything less than that was garbage.

Shoto had his hands set on his hips as he caught his breath, steam rising from his right side to cool his body off. He looked at Izuku, trying to contain the frustration of defeat within him.

 _He took advantage of my fighting with Katsuki and passed us both up in an instant. I let my guard down…I won't let that happen again._

 **"** **They're finishing one after another! We'll make a list of the results later, but for now, good job kids! Go take a break and see Recovery Girl if you have to!"** Present Mic declared.

"Deku! That was amazing!"

Izuku turned around and froze in surprise as Ochako ran up to him, gasping for breath. She clenched her fists tightly and shook them a little in mixed frustration and excitement. "First place is awesome, but it's so frustrating that I lost!"

Izuku's face turned red from the proximity and did his best to hide by curling his arms around his head. "I-it was just luck!"

Pain spiked through his foot as he shuffled away from Ochako, causing him to wince. She noticed immediately from the expression on his face. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine!" He replied, starting to limp towards the side of the arena to reach Recovery Girl's temporary office. "I just hurt my foot with that last jump."

"Is it bad?" Ochako asked, alarmed by the limp. She rushed over and started to help him walk. "Let's get you to Recovery Girl!"

Izuku felt like he was going to explode from the amount of blood gathering in his face. _SHE'S SO CLOSE!_

Forget Katsuki or Shoto, Ochako was gonna be the one who killed him in this competition!

* * *

"What do you think, Teacher?" Asked Tomura Shigaraki, glancing at the man sitting in the chair directly in front of the screen. Tomura himself was standing behind the chair as they watched the U.A Sports Festival on a television.

"…something is different," Teacher said, perplexed for once. He was utterly intrigued by the child Tomura had pointed out- the one who scored first place in the Obstacle Course. "There's something about this boy…something more than his flames…"

"What do you mean?"

"For now…just continue to watch," Teacher replied. He would be paying very close attention to the one Tomura wanted as well as any other students that he felt had the potential to be turned to his will. "After all, he will be your rival before he becomes your weapon. Observe him closely and learn, Tomura."

* * *

"The first round is finally over!" Midnight announced. "Now, let's take a look at the results!"

The hologram screen behind her lit up with a list of students who had made it into the second round. It included the first forty-two students, the last of which was-

"How the hell did he make it in?" Kyoka wondered aloud.

"He crawled," Hanta deadpanned, eyeing the form of Minoru still clutching at his balls on the ground.

"If you didn't make the cut, don't worry about it!" Midnight told the mass of students. "There will be other chances for you to shine. The real competition begins now! The press cavalry will be all over it!"

She cracked her whip as the slot machine began moving again. "Now then, here's the next game! I already know what it is, but what could it be? I just said it, and now here it is!"

The slot machine came to a sudden stop and revealed the title of the game. Cavalry Battle.

"I'll explain," Midnight went on, turning towards the screen. A picture came up of Thirteen, Present Mic, and Cementoss holding up All Might between the three of them. "The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but there's one little difference…"

"Based on the results of the Obstacle Race, each person has been assigned a point value!"

Ochako nodded in understanding. "So in other words, each team will have a different amount of points depending on who they're with?"

"That's easy enough to understand," Mina grinned.

Midnight cracked her whip again in frustration, startling them. "You guys don't hold back even though I'm the one talking, huh?! But yeah, that's right! And the points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom! Five points for forty-second place, ten for forty-first, and so on."

"With the exception of first place, whose value is…TEN MILLION!"

Izuku felt like every single atom of hope had just fled and left him in a cold abyss of horror.

The eyes of every student around him glowed red like demons as they stared at him greedily, knowing that the points he had would basically guarantee them a spot at the top no matter what.

By now, Izuku was ninety-nine point nine percent positive that this place was going to be his grave.

Midnight grinned sadistically. "You got it! It's survival of the fittest with a shot for those at the bottom to seize the top! Good luck, mister first place!"

"Kill me now," Izuku managed to squeak.

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter eleven is here and so is the sports festival! For once, I got a chapter written up when I was relatively free, so I'm not as rushed! Oh yeah, I've got an ao3 account now under the same username that I have here! Feel free to check it out! Now, onto the review responses!**

 **Anc1enT: Great chapter. I hope you weren't late to work. Although I'm curious, is the game Katsuki and Izuku playing real? Lol just curious.**

 **-I wasn't late, thank goodness! Well since you asked, the game they play is very real and actually really popular! As for what game...well, you gave yourself a hint in your own review right here! ;)**

 **shoutobae: THE LUNATIC HAS RETURNED! You won't believe how happy I was when I saw that you updated, like, really. This story has (almost) everything that I look for in a great story! Just to name a few, they are character development, action packed scenes, and adorable relationships and interactions! I can already tell this story will be and continue to be amazing. First of all, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedule to write this wonderful story for us to indulge ourselves in. Without people like you, I don't know how I'd survive everyday buried in schoolwork and projects and exams. So, thank you again and bless you.**

 **OKAY, now on to my review! Once again, I'm bombarded with the fluff between Izuku, Eri and Bakugou as well. The interactions between Izuku and Eri are so sweet and adorable, and it just makes me so happy whenever it's a scene with them. It's also bittersweet as you think back on Eri's past and how she finally found the solace she deserved in Izuku and I just hope nothing breaks them up. That'd be heartwrenching, man.**

 **As for Izuku and Bakugou, again, their character dynamics are great. They grow with the help of one another, they find comfort and reassurance in each other and I find that beautiful. Oh, and characters who are mean and seemingly uncaring to others but have a soft spot for just one person is my guilty pleasure too, most importantly. That's why I love the relationship between them, after all. (lmao)**

 **Oh, and I read your previous chapters again and I saw that you will be including pairings in this story but it'll be slow burn because you need time and development for the relationship to grow into something more, and I have nothing against that. In fact, I love that you'll be writing it like that because most times I can't really love the relationship between 2 characters when they just suddenly fall in love with each other. So, YAY! (I'm placing my bets on Bakugou and Izuku as a pairing now because it just seems right)**

 **Lastly, for Eri's quirk, I was wondering if her powers could reverse All Might's body to the state before the incident and he wouldn't have to die or lose his powers forever? Perhaps through learning how to control her powers, she could learn to control how much something reverses? That'd be interesting and a really good quirk as a healer like Recovery Girl since she could maybe reverse illnesses? Well, that's it for me. I tried to write a shorter review but I never know how to write one anyways so, sorry! HAHAHA. I'll be looking forward to the next chapter!**

 **-WHICH ONE OF US IS THE LUNATIC? ARE WE BOTH LUNATICS? I DON'T KNOW WHO THE LUNATICS ARE ANYMORE! XD**

 **The lunatic debate aside, I'm really happy there are people who enjoy the story so much! I'm glad it's supplying you with something to keep you entertained when things get tough! My schedule is always busy, but once the next two weeks are out of the way and my semester is over, I'll have more time to relax...and it'll soon be my 22nd birthday!**

 **I'm a firm believer that fluff can make anyone's day better, thus the reason for consistent fluff in most of my chapters. And yes, there is going to be slow burns for the pairings because tbh, those slow burns where the feelings build up for so long and the tension gets to the point that you just want to scream at the pair to get together already are my absolute favorites. I can't get into stories where things progress too far too fast. I can't tell you how many stories where I've seen that happen and my interest just drops. It's so disappointing when that happens, but I'm reading one story right now that I'm absolutely in love with because it has the slow burn that I enjoy!**

 **As for which pairings will be brought into the story, I won't say anything specific, but there's one in particular that I think is going to surprise everyone. It's something that just kind of came to me and for whatever reason, I absolutely cannot shake it when I think about it. It's definitely not a common pairing and I've never heard about it anywhere else, but...I got a really, really good vibe from it for some reason. If I write it well enough, I feel like it might become more popular, but idk lol. That's just my wishful thinking.**

 **I'm not going to guarantee anything specifically with Eri's Quirk either because her Quirk makes me think that it's going to take a really long time for her to master it, kind of like how Mirio has spent years fine-tuning his Quirk to make it effective because of how complicated it is, you know? I'm not sure how fast Eri's Quirk training will go, but it's definitely going to take a fair amount of time. Months at the absolute least.**

 **I'm looking forward to more long reviews! Don't shorten them for my sake because I LIVE for giant reviews!**

 **Ashikaga-chan417:** **NOOO! Please continue writing! I love this story so much and am very much eager to read the next chapter.**

 **-Wish granted! :D**

 **shadowprove97: Once again, this story doesn't disappoint. I've said it before but I really enjoy the friendship between Bakugo and Izuku. In so many stories, we only see Bakugo act like the typical smug jackass who continues to be antagonizing towards everyone. Even in the canon story, while they are trying to show some development for, it's going very slowly. Here, while it is still there, it's not as prevalent and he's not so much of an ass to everyone, especially Izuku. It's nice to see them acting more as friends who help each other and working as a team.**

 **-I've wanted to see a story where Katsuki and Izuku interact without it feeling like Katsuki has some sort of weird obsession with him for a while, so I started writing one on my own! I felt like a brotherly relationship was the best way to approach this- I don't have any brothers of my own, but I assume it's something like this? Idk, it seems to be working XD**

 **That's all for now, next chapter might be delayed because I have exams this week and then finals the week after! On top of that, I have holiday hours at work...sheesh, I'm gonna be slammed the next few weeks! But I should be able to write more frequently after that when Christmas break comes along for everyone! And, hopefully, I'll have an amazing chapter up for you guys when my birthday comes around on the 20th! Look forward to it, everyone!**

 **As usual, please review and thanks for reading!**


	12. A Game of Strategy

_Chapter Twelve: A Game of Strategy_

"IIIIIIZUUUKUUU!" Inko was still crying in joy after realizing that her son had managed to get first place in the Obstacle Course race. She hadn't been able to tear her eyes from the screen the entire time.

Mitsuki snickered as she passed her friend another tissue. "That's gonna drive Katsuki nuts. He never takes losing very well."

"Does that mean Izu won?" Eri asked, fidgeting with nervous excitement.

"He won the first event," Mitsuki explained to her with a smile. "The U.A Sports Festival is split up into three different events. The first this year was the Obstacle Course race that Izuku won. The second event is going to be this Cavalry Battle thing. To win the tournament, someone has to make it through the first Obstacle Course and Cavalry Battle, then win the final event."

"Oh," she replied. She didn't fully understand that, but she understood that Izuku still had stuff to do. "What's he gotta do now?"

"Midnight is about to explain the rules, so…"

"Anyone home?"

Eri squeaked as the front door opened and was followed by an unfamiliar, male voice. She took cover behind Inko, who stopped crying just long enough to see who it was.

Mitsuki's husband, Masaru, walked into the living room with a box in his hand. "I brought pizza."

"Oh, good timing!" Mitsuki grinned. "They're about to explain the rules of the second game."

"How'd our boys do?" He asked.

Inko started crying in joy again. "IIIIZUUUKUUU!"

Masaru glanced from Inko to his wife. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"Good!" Mitsuki cackled. "Izuku took first place! Katsuki got in third!"

Masaru blinked in surprise. "Really? Wow, that's great!"

Eri was still hiding behind Inko as she stared at Masaru anxiously. While she'd met Mitsuki before, Masaru was unfamiliar to her. He was usually still at work the few times she came by the Bakugo residence.

Masaru took notice of Eri after a few moments when he started passing out the pizza on paper plates. "Hm?"

"Masaru, this is Eri. The one Katsuki and Izuku saved a few weeks ago from that villain, remember?" Mitsuki prompted.

"Oh!" Masaru exclaimed, scratching the back of his head in slight embarrassment. "That's right, I can't believe that slipped my mind. Well, hi there, Eri. I'm Masaru, Katsuki's father."

Eri tried to smile just a little, but she didn't come out from her hiding place behind Inko. She would probably have felt more comfortable if Izuku was around, but he wasn't and so she wasn't as open as she might have been.

Masaru glanced at Mitsuki again in question. The woman grinned in Eri's direction a little softly. "She's a bit shy, but she opens up more when Izuku is with her."

"I see," Masaru nodded, opting to pass a couple of plates to Inko, who was still crying tears of joy. She took them gratefully and gave one of the plates to Eri, which held upon it a piece of pizza.

"Alright, it's gonna start soon," Mitsuki said, gluing her eyes to the TV as she took a bite of pizza.

* * *

Midnight cracked her whip once more to get everyone's attention (mostly) away from Izuku and his ten million points. "Listen up, kiddies! The time limit of the game is fifteen minutes. As I said before, the point value of each team will be the total amount of everyone on the team, written down on a headband. The "rider" of each horse will be the one to wear it, like a flag-bearer. Your goal is to steal as many headbands as you can until the time is up!"

"You're restricted to wearing your headband on your neck or above, but no lower. Also, if you should lose your headband, you won't be out of the game. You can use your Quirks, but remember that this is still a human cavalry game. If you attack any other group with the intent of breaking them up, that's a red card and you'll be forced to sit out for the rest of the game."

"And starting now…" Midnight grinned. "You've got fifteen minutes to pick out the members of your team!"

Izuku had already been thinking about which people he wanted on his team from the moment the game was announced, so he immediately approached the first person he had in mind- Tenya.

He called to his friend to get his attention. "Tenya, can we team up? I've got a plan, but I'll need you and Ochako to pull it off. With the two of you, we'll have high mobility and I can manage defenses with my fire…"

"As expected of you, Izuku," Tenya praised him. "You clearly have a strategy planned for this event. However, I must decline."

"Eh?"

"The thing is…ever since the Entrance Exam, I've done nothing but lose to you. You're an amazing friend, but if I only follow you, I'll never grow myself. Katsuki and Shoto aren't your only rivals, you know. So I'll be doing my best to defeat you."

His decision surprised Izuku for a few moments, but it made sense. He was the one everyone was gunning for. He was the target. The mountain.

So this was what All Might felt.

"Deku!"

Izuku turned towards the familiar voice to see a huge smile he wasn't ready for. "Let's team up!"

"OCHAKO!" Izuku cried in joy, streams of tears literally pouring from his eyes. "Are you serious?! Everyone is gonna be after me because of my stupid ten million points!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be rough," she admitted, blinding him with her cheerful face. "But I'd rather team up with people I'm friends with!"

Izuku felt his heart thump painfully against his ribcage, causing his face to scrunch up.

"Um, are you okay?" Ochako asked with legitimate concern. "Your face got kinda…"

"It's nothing…you're just so bright I can't look at you directly."

Izuku recovered from his momentary loss of bodily function and grinned at her. "This rocks though, I was hoping we could team up! Now I just need someone who can match Tenya's mobility…"

He blinked as Izuku spotted the teen in question talking with Shoto, Momo, and Denki. His lips pursed tightly. That was going to be a strong team. But…he had a plan. And with the right crew, Izuku knew he could make it work.

He glanced at the clock. They still had just under fourteen minutes to pick partners and strategize. No sense in wasting more time.

"Mr. First place! I insist upon an alliance!"

Izuku yelped and spun around at the voice that was way too close for comfort, his eyes nearly bulging out upon seeing a pair of goggles right smack in his face. The owner of said goggles was an incredibly energetic and direct girl with pink hair.

Ochako stared at her in surprise. "You're that girl who flew across the pit with all that gear!"

"Right you are!" She confirmed. "I'm Mei Hatsume of the Support Course! I don't know you, but I'd like to use your position as first place to promote my super cute babies! I'm aiming to catch the notice of big companies, and what better way than to join up with the winner of the Obstacle Course?! All eyes are gonna be on you and I'd receive maximum attention! Or rather, my babies would!"

Izuku was, frankly, completely overwhelmed by just how…in your face the girl was. He could only stare and shrink back a bit as Mei got closer and closer to explain her reasons for apparently joining his team. It didn't seem like he was going to get a choice in the matter.

Ochako held her hands up in an attempt to slow the girl down. "H-hold on! Babies? Big companies? What are you…"

"The Support Course spends its time developing gear for heroes to use in the field! Gear that takes advantage of or enhances Quirks! I've got tons of babies, so there's definitely going to be one that suits you!"

Ochako tried not to feel too annoyed by the hyperactive girl's complete disregard of her. _She's got no interest in me at all, huh?_

Izuku suddenly recovered from his shock when Mei laid out several pieces of gear in front of him. "Wait, wait, hold up. Do you have anything that's flammable? Something that can help me increase the amount of fire I can use? My Quirk lets me create and control flame, but I can't make very much of it on my own."

"Is that so?!" Mei grinned eagerly and began to tinker with a few things. "I've got just the thing! It'll only take me a second to adjust. Anything in particular you're aiming for?"

His brain went into full strategist mode and suddenly he knew exactly what they were doing. Izuku's eyes swept over the remaining students still looking for a team to join and locked onto the one he wanted- thankfully, he had not been chosen yet. And as he went to approach him, he told Mei what he needed as simply as possible.

"I need a flamethrower."

* * *

In the hallways of the colosseum, All Might was walking back to the teacher's seats after getting a drink. The large grin on his face wasn't just for show- he was legitimately smiling uncontrollably. Izuku had done incredibly well in the first challenge and left a huge impact on the audience. He couldn't have been prouder of his successor.

Of course, this was just the first of many challenges, but All Might felt a lot more confident now that Izuku would be able to hold his own.

As he walked to the stairs that would lead him up to his seat, he caught of glimpse of another man walking down- a man cloaked in flame.

"Hey there!" All Might called to him, causing the man's backbone to stiffen. "It's been a while, Endeavor! Let's have tea!"

Endeavor glanced over his shoulder, scowling at the Symbol of Peace. "All Might."

"What's it been, ten years? I figured it'd be nice to catch up!"

"Take your tea somewhere else," Endeavor growled back as he started to walk down the stairs again. "I've got no interest in playing nice with you."

"Why so cold?" All Might appeared in front of the fiery hero in a flash of movement, forcing Endeavor to stop and glare at him. "I just wanted to ask you something."

Endeavor's glare was venomous. "Okay, but I get to ask something of you for reminding me of some questions I've got."

"Sure!" All Might agreed, surprised frankly that Endeavor had accepted so easily. "If I may, your son Shoto has made quite the showing only by using half of his power. He's really impressed me! You must have taught him extensively."

"What are you getting at?"

"I want to know how you trained him so well. I'm still new at this teaching thing and I'd like to learn anything you can tell me about raising the next generation!"

Endeavor was silent for a few moments. "Pick your students better."

"Sorry?"

"You heard me. U.A's standards have really fallen if they're accepting some of the trash I've seen today."

All Might tilted his head. "I'm not sure if what young Katsuki said upset you or not, but that's no reason to assume the others aren't…"

"I could care less about some wet behind the ears runt who thinks he can conquer the world," Endeavor huffed dismissively. "He'll learn his place sooner or later. No, I'm talking about that _thing_ the school took in."

All Might was silent, but Endeavor wasn't buying it if his rage-contorted face said anything. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. As the number two hero, I've got access to student profiles at U.A. My turn to ask the questions. How the hell did that creature come to exist?"

"You're a father, Endeavor, you know how babies are made."

"Why wasn't it terminated?"

All Might felt his rare temper start to fray. "Don't confuse the boy for his father. They're nothing alike."

"You know damn well what it was capable of and you're defending its spawn?" Endeavor spat. "It should be destroyed. People are going to say the same thing as soon as they realize what it really is. That bloodline should be dying in a cell, not participating in a tournament for aspiring heroes."

"That's enough. He's just a child and he wants to be a hero. I intend to help him become one."

"Then you're a hypocrite, Mr. Symbol of Peace. You were the one who threw Viper into a prison. You should be the first in line to make sure all traces of him are wiped away from the world."

"And _you_ should remember who dragged you to safety when you started an unnecessary fight that nearly burned down an entire city."

Endeavor stiffened and glared at All Might viciously, but he didn't care. The fiery hero was really pushing it. All Might was losing his temper, but he also knew that this was not the time nor place to settle their differences. "I've lost interest in our talk. Sorry for bothering you. But let me make something as clear as I can; I will defend Izuku as if he were my own child. You threaten him at the risk of your health."

"Defending the world is one thing, O' Symbol of Peace," Endeavor snarled. "But fighting the world is a very different matter. I won't have to do anything. Sooner or later, someone will do what should have been done long ago."

"I pity that someone. Their rest of their life will be spent behind bars," All Might retorted before walking around Endeavor.

He only made it to the top of the stairs when Endeavor spoke suddenly.

"This is because of _her_ , isn't it?"

All Might didn't stop walking. "This conversation is _over_."

Endeavor merely sneered as he heard the Symbol of Peace disappear upstairs. "Lovesick fool.

* * *

Aizawa was shaken from a brief nap by Present Mic, who was as eager as ever. **"Wake up, buddy! The fifteen minutes dedicated to forming teams and making strategies are up! We got thirteen warhorses on the field!"**

The mummified hero studied said warhorses carefully. **"…looks like we've got quite the interesting lineup."**

 **"** **Shout those war cries from the top of your lungs and fire the signal!"** Mic declared. **"The bloodbath of the Obstacle Race was just the start! It's time for things to get even more brutal! ARE YOU READY?!"**

Izuku tightened the band on his head, displaying over ten million points for the other teams that all had eyes on them. "Get ready, guys! Just like we planned!"

"Roger!" Ochako replied.

"Fufufu…" Hatsume laughed confidently.

"Understood," Fumikage nodded.

 **"** **THREE!"**

 **"** **TWO!"**

 **"** **ONE!"**

 **"** **START!"**

Immediately, virtually every team went after Izuku's, seeking the ten million points for a surefire win. It seemed like an easy enough mark- after all, Izuku's team had chosen to start in the corner of the field.

"Here goes!" Izuku pointed Hatsume's device- which was basically a hose attached to a backpack- at the ground a few meters away and then shot a jet of clear, gel-like liquid in a half-circle in front of them. As soon as the line of gel was established, Izuku tossed a fireball at it and a curtain of emerald fire ten feet high roared to life.

"Shit!" Tetsutetsu of 1B snarled as his horse was forced to come to a stop. "Damn Support Course!"

"Is that napalm?!" Toru shrieked from atop her own horse.

"Fufufu! It's a fuel I developed to power some of my babies, but it can be used like napalm!" Mei cackled in glee. "See, you big companies?! Even my sources of energy are quite adaptable!"

 **"** **Oh, that's gotta burn! The ten million points is literally under fire! We're gonna need a few dozen buckets of ice water over here!"** Mic exclaimed.

Izuku snapped as soon as the barrier was protecting them from the other students. "Fumikage! Onto phase two!"

Fumikage nodded. "Dark Shadow!"

"Aye!" The shadowy creature agreed as it extended, reaching around Izuku to fiddle with the backpack. Mei instructed Dark Shadow while Izuku continued to build up on their defensive plan.

"Ochako, make me float, but keep a grip on me!"

"You're the boss!" Ochako grinned, lightening the load on all of them by making Izuku weightless. The goal of that move was to give them an escape route in case someone did break through the barrier and also to help Ochako, Mei, and Fumikage conserve their strength.

While Izuku's team was busy operating behind the wall of flame, Katsuki eyed the barrier with annoyance. "Yeah, I figured Deku made some master plan. Bastard had too much time to plot."

"What do we do?" Hanta grumbled to his left. "The ten million points are out of reach! Can't you blast through the fire or something?"

"No point. He's gotta have a countermove in case I go after him," Katsuki retorted. "Icy hot's already taking the bait, see?"

Shoto's team was prowling along the edge of the flames, trying to find a way through, but Katsuki knew it wouldn't be so simple. This kind of strategic game was right up Izuku's alley and there was no way in hell he was going to settle for just one line of defense. No, he had to have a strategy that would stall.

Izuku had time on his side- the game was pretty short and he'd no doubt come up with ways to counter his enemies. Whoever went after him would be playing by _his_ rules and they wouldn't have the time to win. Katsuki knew that if he'd had a bit more time, he probably could've outplayed Izuku and taken his points, but he wasn't willing to put all his eggs in that one basket.

"Forget Deku; if icy hot somehow gets the ten million, we'll hijack it from him, but I'm not wasting my time on that bullshit. Besides…" Katsuki grinned viciously. "There's plenty of goldmines around here that we can pillage."

"You know, looking at you it isn't obvious, but you're a pretty good strategist yourself, aint'cha?" Eijirou snickered in front of him.

"The hell does that mean hair-for-brains?!"

* * *

Mitsuki grinned at the television as they watched Izuku and Katsuki begin to execute their individual plans for the competition. "I had a feeling they'd go all strategy mode for this game. Look at 'em- they're acting like they own the place."

"I don't understand why they didn't team up," Inko frowned. "They didn't even talk to each other when they were picking teams."

"They both probably figured that their Quirks aren't compatible for a game like this," Masaru told her. "Both of them need their hands to make their Quirks work effectively and this game makes it so only one of them would have full use of their abilities."

Inko inclined her head slightly, though her frown remained. Mitsuki added on to her husband's reassurances. "You know how they are, Inko. Whenever they're playing those strategy games on their computers, they're always talking about how they're going adapt in different situations as the game goes on. They know each other well enough to understand when their skill sets are going to work well or clash, and they must have decided that for this game, they couldn't do their best by working together."

"I suppose so," Inko sighed.

Mitsuki glanced around Inko at the little girl watching the television. "What do you think, Eri?"

Eri, for the moment, was completely glued to the screen and didn't hear a word Mitsuki said, prompting a snigger from the Bakugo matriarch. "She's already picking up on their bad habits."

* * *

Izuku held his left hand out towards the curtain of flames between them and the other teams and carefully began to manipulate his power. He could see at least three or four teams waiting to ambush them, but they were going to be very disappointed if they thought the flames were his sole defense.

He slowly twisted his hand to the left, as though he were adjusting the temperature of an oven burner with one of the knobs. It took a lot of concentration because this was a new skill he'd been working on that had yet to be perfected. If he screwed this up, it would weaken their primary defense too much and leave them open to attack.

Fumikage glanced back up at him and spotted the motion. "What are you doing?"

"Lowering the temperature," Izuku replied shortly. "Colder flames become darker so they can absorb heat easier. If they get dark enough, Dark Shadow will get stronger and our defense will improve overall."

The falcon-headed teenager stared at his leader in complete surprise. He'd somewhat expected that Izuku would have an in-depth strategy to keep them going this game, but…he hadn't expected _this_.

 _I told him about Dark Shadow's weakness not twenty minutes ago and he's already developed a way to bolster it?_ Fumikage remembered their first training exercise at U.A, recalling how Katsuki had described Izuku's strategic thinking during his team fight. _So this is what he meant._

"How are things going, Mei?" Izuku asked.

"The backup is done!" She responded. "We're good to go! What's the next step?"

"Get the flamethrower ready for Dark Shadow," Izuku grinned confidently, surprising the rest of his team (well, except Mei, who had only just met him). "We're going on the offensive."

"Wait, what?" Ochako squeaked in surprise. "I thought we were staying behind the fire?"

"Oh, we are," he confirmed. "But I want to discourage anyone from getting any ideas of breaching the wall. We'll poke them from under our fire. Mei, prep the flamethrower to repair any holes in our defense. I'm going to try and blast Shoto's team first."

"Roger that!"

Ochako stared up at Izuku while he continued their strategy. He was grinning wildly, his usually hidden confidence out in full-view. His eyes were alight and eager for battle. His hands were clenched, as though he couldn't wait to fight.

Frankly, he looked a lot like Katsuki.

Speaking of which…

 **"** **Katsuki Bakugo's team is on a rampage!"** Present Mic howled excitedly. **"Look at them go!"**

 **"** **You're getting awfully biased there,"** Eraser Head retorted.

He had to admit though, Katsuki's strategy was working like a charm.

Katsuki Bakugo was known for being flashy if nothing else and in true Katsuki fashion, he had devised a plan as flashy as possible. For Katsuki had basically become an explosive human whip and he was absolutely _destroying_ anything in his way.

The attack would begin like this: Katsuki would jump off of his horse and fly to the nearest team with his explosions. Before they even knew what was happening, he used his Stun Grenade technique in midair to completely disorient the entire team, and then proceeded to steal their headband.

Hanta would then reel his leader back in with his tape and return Katsuki to the horse. Eijirou would take most of Katsuki's weight and the impact of his return so that Mina could fire off streams of acid with one hand and block the path of any team trying to reclaim their headbands.

It was stupidly daring, completely ridiculous, and utterly _infuriating_ for the enemy teams, and Katsuki was having the time of his fucking life.

"Hell yeah!" Katsuki cackled wildly as he returned to the horse with another headband. "Get wrecked, you noobs!"

Mina rolled her eyes, but she was still smirking. "You are _such_ an ass."

"We're winning this, though," Eijirou told her. "Check it out! We already passed up Shoto's team! The only one ahead of us is Izuku!"

"Deku doesn't count," Katsuki sneered, cracking his knuckles. "We're in first place for all I care. All I want is to put icy-hot in his place on rock fucking bottom! Now, who's next?!"

Hanta glanced around. "What about- WHOA, LOOK OUT!"

Katsuki whipped his head up just in time to see a fireball go sailing over the curtain of flame blocking Izuku's team from the others. It was actually quite small, but that was made up for by the fact that nearly a dozen more fireballs followed after it and proceeded to rain down on the enemy teams trying to find a way through the flame shield. Said teams were forced to scramble away in order to avoid the shots, but they were meant to annoy them more than anything.

One of them came sailing towards Katsuki's team and he merely sneered and blew it away with an explosion. "Deku's getting too excited back there if he's starting to throw shots at the other teams. Hair-for-brains, keep an eye out for more of those missiles. If he gets ambitious, we'll jump the ten million points just for good measure."

Katsuki knew that was unlikely, though. Izuku certainly had a confident side, but he was really good at keeping it under control. If anything, he'd use his apparent overconfidence as a way to bait enemy teams and then crush them.

They had been playing strategy games together for a very long time. If Katsuki had learned one thing by now, it was this: Izuku would turn your world inside out if you played his game.

Katsuki would not make the mistake of getting too greedy by going after Izuku and triggering whatever freakish traps he had laid in wait for them.

The explosive teen took a brief glance at the clock. Less than five minutes remaining. This was going to be where the crazy plays started coming out.

"Raccoon eyes, keep up the defensive acid," Katsuki decided. "Hair-for-brains, same to you. Defend. Soy-sauce face, if someone gets ambitious, tape them so I can go in for the kill. We're waiting for someone else to poke the sleeping bear behind those flames before we make a move."

"My NAME is Mina!" The acidic teen retorted. "And wouldn't it be better if we just defended and waited for the game to end?"

"Yeah man, we've got this," Eijirou added, glancing up at his leader. "Why not just hold out until it's over?"

Katsuki bared his teeth aggressively. "It ain't gonna play out like that. Someone's gonna get desperate as the clock winds down and hit the beehive with a fuckin' baseball bat, then everything is gonna go to hell."

* * *

All Might was tapping his foot incessantly on the ground as he watched. Barely four minutes were left on the clock now. This was going to be where things got ugly.

Izuku had been playing defensively for most of this game and it had worked early on. He'd poked at the other teams on the other side with those little fireballs, discouraging them or irritating them to the point of giving up and looking for points elsewhere. It had worked so far. It was a good plan.

But now Shoto and his team were getting desperate and All Might knew a big move was coming from them. Izuku had effectively locked them out and the only way they were getting in was with a battering ram.

And Shoto had a battering ram on his right side.

* * *

"Shoto, are you sure about this?" Momo asked. She wanted the ten million points as badly as he did, but they were still guaranteed a spot in the top four with their current point value. Katsuki's team had pulled ahead, but the next best team was still several hundred points behind them. They still had a good margin of error in case they weren't able to get the ten million points.

Shoto was beyond frustrated by Izuku's successful defense and the way he had thwarted every attempt to break in. If he tried to freeze the ground and smother the flames, Izuku either fired more of that napalm stuff or he made the temperature rise until the fire was white hot and made his ice useless. That also tended to create a thick layer of hot steam that would further repel his advances. His own fire wouldn't do anything. Denki's electricity could do nothing. Tenya couldn't run through the flames; not only was it suicidal, but they were damn sure Izuku had something planned for them in case they did try it.

Momo had managed to temporarily stop a section of the flames by creating a fireproof tarp, but the moment the flames went down, Dark Shadow lunged through the gap and just threw the tarp away whilst throwing a sucker punch at Shoto. Fumikage's defenses, bolstered by Izuku and his temperature control to keep the flames and thus the area where Dark Shadow was dark, was a formidable tool.

It was ridiculous. Shoto had thought he'd be able to break through the wall in the first five minutes, but now there were just three minutes left and he was running out of ideas. Izuku seemed bound and determined to counter every single plan he came up with and deny all opportunities to steal his massive bounty.

Even more infuriating was that when Momo had temporarily broken through the wall, Shoto had gotten a good look at Izuku's face. He'd been smirking, as though he knew their attempt to break in was useless and wouldn't work.

The look on his face made Shoto's blood boil. Was he being _taunted?_

He'd thought the boy had been rattled by his challenge before the event began, but now he wasn't so sure. Izuku seemed more than happy to just figuratively throw a middle finger at him every time Shoto tried to get to the ten million points.

 _Every_. _Single_. **_Time_**.

"I'm sure," he told Momo. "We're breaking in and taking those points. Tenya, are you ready?"

"I'm ready!"

"Denki?"

"Let's do this!"

Shoto hoisted the two cloaks Momo had created- one to block flame, the other to block lightning. They twisted their horse so that Shoto had a clear line of sight to use his ice.

"Now!"

Shoto unleashed a glacial assault upon the curtain of fire. It wasn't just a little this time, or enough to smother the flames. No. In an instant, he created a massive wall of ice that completely swallowed up the fires faster than they could burn, but he was careful to leave a single, small opening for them to get in. Of course, said opening was still on fire.

He threw the heat-retardant cloak over Tenya, and then used the electricity-blocking one to protect himself, Tenya, and Momo from the next stage of their plan.

Tenya blasted through the wall of flames, safe thanks to the heat-resistant properties of his cloak and getting his team to the other side before anyone could be burned. As soon as they were on the other side, Denki unloaded a huge burst of lightning, frying anything he could reach.

As soon as the shock was over- which only lasted a couple of seconds- Shoto threw the cloaks off and lunged towards Izuku's team. "Get them!"

"Shoto!" Momo shouted in alarm.

Shoto whipper his head up and froze for two reasons. One, because Izuku was floating about twenty feet in the air, surrounded by a ring of fire he'd somehow managed to save from his instantaneous freeze.

And two, because Dark Shadow was easily five times his original size now and was looming over them, having blocked Denki's electric assault with only mild difficulty.

Unbeknownst to Shoto's team, the huge wall of ice he created to smother Izuku's flames was a lot better at making shade than Izuku's dark fire. He had unwittingly empowered Dark Shadow and completely negated their attempt at a break in.

Now between Shoto and the ten million points was a much bigger and stronger Dark Shadow than he'd anticipated, Fumikage, Mei, Ochako, and a floating Izuku with plenty of fire for him to defend with.

Suddenly, _they_ were trapped. A wall of ice and fire behind them, a huge, dark monster in front, and a floating pyromancer with an aptitude for outplaying every single move they made.

This had been a huge mistake. Izuku had completely outsmarted them. He had expected Shoto to do something big and break in and, by sheer luck, found a way to twist that to his own favor. He couldn't have known for certain that Dark Shadow would be empowered by the break-in attempt, after all.

But nobody ever said luck wasn't a part of victory.

Fumikage immediately went on the offensive. "Dark Shadow! Trap them against the wall!"

"Damn straight!" Dark Shadow shrieked in triumph, arrogant and eager now that he was really juiced from all the shade around them.

Shoto could see Izuku above them, getting his fire to spin rapidly as though he were planning something. He had no choice now; they were in such a bad spot that defense was the only option remaining.

He stabbed a spear of ice into the ground and as quickly as he could, created a shell around him and his team. It meant they were trapped in a cave of ice against the wall with no way out, but it kept them safe from losing their points.

Dark Shadow slammed his massive claws into the ice, but it was too thick to break through with his current strength, so the creature only leered at them through the glassy ice and hissed in frustration.

"Holy crap," Denki gulped. "That was almost _really_ bad."

"Shoto…" Tenya glanced at him over his shoulder.

Shoto grit his teeth. "We were baited. He knew we would do this. Break in somehow. Damn him…"

Momo sighed. "We've got enough points on our own to get into the last round. We'll remain here until the game ends so that Dark Shadow can't reach us. If he breaks through the shell, Izuku will no doubt have a plan to steal our headband."

Shoto nodded, laying his forehead against the ice in frustration. Izuku was becoming more and more of a problem than he'd initially thought. His fists clenched and the look in his eyes darkened.

He'd have to shut him down during the fighting part of the tournament. Nothing less would satisfy him. If he defeated that flame, Endeavor would be completely shunned from his life.

* * *

Izuku let out a breath as he watched Shoto's team hide behind a shell of ice. He hadn't expected the trap to work out so well, nor for Dark Shadow to get so powerful from Shoto's own assault, but he'd take what luck he could get.

He glanced at the clock on the big screen. Less than a minute left now-

"LOOK OUT!" Ochako shrieked from below.

Izuku whipped back around in midair and blanched. Katsuki was flying down at him and nearly within striking range.

 **"** **WHOA! HEAD'S UP! KATSUKI'S GOING FOR THE TEN MILLION! THIS COULD BE IT!"** Present Mic screamed. The colosseum started going wild and all eyes were on the two teenagers literally flying thirty feet in the air above the rest of the chaos.

"GIVE ME THAT!" Katsuki roared at Izuku from mere feet away.

Izuku wound his hand back, gathering his flames around his right arm, and struck at Katsuki in order to repel him. Katsuki countered by generating a huge explosion from his palms.

The blast drove them apart, but Katsuki fired off a couple of explosions to regain his aerial control before he lunged at Izuku again. Izuku, however, couldn't control his flight as well; he could push off with his flames, but he was only floating thanks to Ochako's Quirk.

Izuku shot a stream of fire towards his friend, but Katsuki only repelled himself with another blast around it and reached out. His fingers wrapped around the headband and he ripped it from Izuku's forehead.

 **"** **HE GOT IT! HE GOT IT!"** Mic screeched.

Katsuki immediately began launching himself up to get back to his team, but he wasn't expecting the headband to be ripped from his grasp. He snapped his eyes towards Izuku and spotted a thin, transparent line, which had been tied around the headband itself, reeling in the stolen goods back to their original owner. That had been the backup plan in case they somehow lost the points- the retractable line was a feature of Mei's backpack and it instantly retrieved the team's lifeline to the final event.

 **"** **HE TOOK IT BACK!"** Mic was losing his mind and Eraser Head was steadily losing his hearing. **"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"**

Izuku snatched the headband out of the air with his hand and propelled himself with his fire back towards his team, never once taking his eyes off of Katsuki.

Katsuki wanted to lunge at Izuku again, but he got a brief glance at the clock. Thirteen seconds left.

It wasn't worth the risk, he decided. Izuku was almost back to his team and Dark Shadow was now aware of his presence.

"Fuck," he snarled, blasting himself back over the wall of ice before Izuku and Fumikage could take advantage of his vulnerability in the air, alone and without his team to back him up.

There was no point in getting frustrated over it, he knew, even if it still pissed him off a lot. In the first place, this had been only an optional assault in Katsuki's eyes. An opportunity he could take, but he'd still win regardless. He'd already secured a spot in the final round with the amount of points he'd hijacked from other teams. Icy-hot was trapped under Dark Shadow's threat and, as far as Katsuki was concerned, he'd won the game. With any luck, icy-hot wouldn't have enough points to make it through to the last round.

Wouldn't that just be the cherry on top?

Katsuki made it back to his team just as the siren sounded the end, sneering confidently. This had been HIS game. He had stomped on these noobs with his own strategic thinking and dammit, first place was his. Izuku didn't count right now- Katsuki had shown the crowd that he was the real monster in this tournament. The one to look out for.

Because he would obliterate anyone in his way, dammit.

 **"** **Times up!"** Mic announced as the siren rang. **"What a wild game! The anticipation! The action! The plays! The bar couldn't be higher for the final round of this tournament! Now, let's announce the four teams continuing into the finals!**

 **"** **First place goes to Team Izuku! By some miracle and with some of the best defensive strategies we've seen here, they held onto the ten million points with ease!**

 **"** **Second place to Team Katsuki! Their aggression and teamwork were all on-point! They were definitely the warlords of this game! The lead they have on the other teams is nuts!**

 **"** **Third place goes to Team Tetsu- wait, what?! Third place is Team Hitoshi?! Where the heck did they come from?! For real, what?!**

 **"** **And in fourth place is Team Shoto! They had some great firepower, but they lost their gamble to go after the ten million points while everyone else was duking it out! Luckily, their base point value is still enough to get them into the finals!**

 **"** **We're gonna take an hour long break for lunch! Everyone give your hearts a chance to settle down! You're gonna need it! Hey, Eraser, let's go get food!"**

Eraser only grumbled over the mic. **"I'm taking a nap."**

* * *

"YES!" Mitsuki jumped up and yelled at the top of her lungs. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Get wrecked, all of you! My boys RUN this joint! Git good or get out! Ahahahahaha!"

"IZZZUUUUKUUUUU!" Inko wailed joyfully, tears flying from her eyes at an accelerated rate.

Masaru took a few steps away from the shrieking women and sipped his coffee, smiling into the drink. Partly because of Katsuki and Izuku winning, partly because of Mitsuki and Inko losing their minds, but also for one other reason.

Eri was jumping up and down on the couch whilst uncontrollably squealing and it was the most adorably funny thing he'd seen in a long time.

* * *

"WE WON!" Ochako screamed and threw her arms around Izuku to spin him around. "WE WONT! DEKU, WE WON!"

"Uhhhuuhh?!" Izuku's brain was currently short-circuiting _because a girl was hugging him and laughing and spinning him around and what in the actual seven levels of hell was going on right now wait what blue error screen-_

Fumikage watched Ochako celebrate while Izuku's face went bright red and he basically fainted from their proximity with some amusement. Dark Shadow was growing more timid as Shoto melted the icy wall with his flame half, but he was quite proud of himself, as well. Mei was already busy working on the backpack she'd loaned to Izuku, tweaking the parts single-mindedly.

Shoto's team were released from their icy cavern after a few moments and, while relieved that they'd won a spot in the finals, were also somewhat disappointed by the result. Shoto especially was looking forlorn.

Shoto clenched his fist and stalked towards the lockers. _That's the last time I play into your hands like this, Izuku. You won't be leaving this place in victory, I assure you._

Ochako placed Izuku down and starting waving at his face when he failed to respond; after all, his face was still bright red, steam was coming from his eyes, and he felt like his brain was telling him a million different things in multiple languages that he didn't understand.

"What the hell, did you break him?"

Katsuki and his team came over, all of them looking rather satisfied with themselves. Their leader, as cocky and arrogant as ever, slapped Izuku on the shoulder and caused him to yelp back into reality. The teen spun towards Katsuki, who smirked at him. "I see you survived."

"You made that kinda iffy at the end, y'know," Izuku muttered.

"I ain't your buddy in this tournament, I told you that," Katsuki retorted. "But whatever. Good job making icy-hot curl into a ball. That was really, really satisfying to see."

Izuku frowned. "I still think you're being too hard on him."

"Well, I don't," Katsuki waved him off, slung an arm around his shoulder, and led their teams back to the lockers. "C'mon, let's get some food. I'm starving, dammit."

They were making their way to the lunchroom, chatting with the rest of their class and some members of Class B about the final round. Most of the conversation was directed towards Izuku and Katsuki, the apparent strategic masterminds of the last game. A lot of the students were wondering just how in the hell they'd come up with such insane plays. Katsuki was soaking up the attention and answering with all the arrogance one would expect from him, while Izuku was, as usual, more humble and a lot more nervous about being the center of attention. He couldn't say he totally disliked it, though.

Unfortunately, the pleasantries had to take a backseat when the group of students turned the corner to the lunchroom and found a tall, intimidating figure blocking their path.

Endeavor.

Izuku's face went white, but Katsuki's eyes narrowed. "The hell do you want?"

The fiery hero locked onto Izuku and Katsuki like a wolf locked onto sheep and grunted at them. "Come with me for a moment, the both of you. I've got some things to say."

* * *

 **A/N: This is going to be quick because I just don't feel like writing a long author's note, so here's the deal. I had this huge chapter gift planned out for you guys before christmas. There were going to be like 6 or 7 chapters coming out for several of my stories. But two days before my birthday came around, my grandmother was taken to the hospital. While she is now okay, it's expected that she won't remain so for very long. It's really messed with me and frankly the huge** **chapter gift I had planned out isn't going to happen. I have half of Challenger's next chapter planned out, most of Serpentine's, some of Brothers by Dragons, and I really wanted to get another Dragonearth chapter out, but it's just not happening right now. I have to be with my family and well...my writing is probably going to suffer because of it. I mean, this chapter sucks. I left out so much that I had planned originally just because I couldn't find the will to write it. So please just...be patient with me. I'll get back into writing more often again, just not right now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	13. Mounting Dread

_Chapter Thirteen: Mounting Dread_

Katsuki scowled at Endeavor, who had been staring at the pair of them in silence for nearly a minute. They were standing in a quiet hall, Endeavor on one side leaning against the wall, Izuku and Katsuki on the other. Izuku was cringing in a timid silence while his friend only seemed more irritated by the second. "Well? Spill your guts already, you're wasting our time."

Annoyance flickered in Endeavor's eyes. "Learn to respect your elders, boy. I may be a stranger to you, but I'm still the number two hero."

"Cool story, but if you're just going to stare at us, we're leaving," Katsuki retorted. "We've only got an hour for lunch before the final event."

"In a rush, are we?" The fiery hero almost looked amused. "Well, that's fine. I only wished to tell you to make a better showing to the masses. You've got power, boy, but if you don't show the proper etiquette and respect, you'll be nothing more than a flashy troublemaker at the bottom of the pecking order. My son, Shoto, may be acting like a fool right now, refusing to use his heat side, but he's made a better overall showing for the Pros than you. Pro heroes aren't interested in arrogant brats who disrespect those around them."

Katsuki recognized the verbal dressing down as legitimate advice, though he still found it irritating to swallow given who it was coming from. He crossed his arms tightly. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Good," Endeavor grunted. "Off with you, now. I've got something to say to this one as well. In private."

"No," Katsuki immediately refused with a growl that made Endeavor raise an eyebrow. "Whatever you say to him, you can say to me."

"K-Katsuki, it's okay," Izuku said nervously.

"There's not a chance in all seven levels of hell that I'm leaving you alone with him," Katsuki snarled, cutting off any more protests from Izuku. "You know exactly how I feel about that! He can spit out what he wants to say with me here or not at all."

"It's none of your business, boy," Endeavor told him firmly.

"The hell it isn't," he retorted.

Endeavor was getting more and more incensed by Katsuki's tone and Izuku finally drew a line before his friend said something that could make the situation escalate more. "Katsuki, it'll only be for a minute. I'll be right back, okay? Just…keep a seat for me at lunch?"

Katsuki scowled at that and Izuku thought he would refuse again, but the teen only snarled and spun away. "Fine, but he better fuck off real fuckin' quick."

The explosive teen stomped off, casting one last glare at Endeavor on his way out. The fiery hero snorted. "Such a rude child. He'll learn his place, soon enough."

"Katsuki's just…protective," Izuku defended his friend.

"Protective? I wonder if that will change once he finds out about you." Izuku shrank against the wall as Endeavor loomed over him. "That was quite the Quirk you showed off in the last two events. But those green flames are from the devil itself."

The fiery hero's voice lowered into a deep growl. _"I know what you are._ I know where that flame comes from. I've seen what it can do. You want to be a hero? Do yourself and the rest of the world a service and spare us all from learning that Viper has a legacy."

Izuku avoided looking him in the eye. "I-I'm not…that guy…"

"You think the world will care?" Endeavor scoffed. "Your very existence upsets the balance of peace. The people will reject your dream of being a hero, not even All Might will be able to stop that. And once word spreads, less…savory individuals will no doubt try to claim you for their own purposes."

"I've seen your type before. You put on a brave front, but you're terrified, aren't you? You have no idea what's going to be waiting for you if you go down this path, boy. Can you really stay good? Can you stand all the pressure that's going to be put on you?"

Endeavor pulled back and glared at him as he turned away. "If the answer to any of that is no, then give up. Go home, boy. You have no place in the world of heroes."

He began to leave, but Izuku suddenly burst out. "No wonder Shoto said he hates you."

Endeavor stopped dead and glanced over his shoulder at Izuku. The boy was staring at him with fear and chills went down his spine as the fiery hero only sneered. "Shoto is going through a rebellious phase. He'll learn, one way or another. You…you won't be getting any second chances once you make a mistake."

Endeavor left. Izuku slowly slid down the wall and to the floor, feeling a cold, abyssal black hole form in his stomach. The air was too thick for him to breathe. He curled up, hugging his knees and trying desperately to calm himself, but it wasn't working. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, just trying to breathe while his flesh started to become clammy and cold.

Because everything Endeavor said was right, and he'd called Izuku out on it. He knew all too well that his power wouldn't be accepted by society and Izuku would never want All Might to risk his reputation just to defend him. Villains might even pursue him once they learned Heat Viper had a child out and about with his Quirk.

And it scared him. It scared him so much he tried to never think about it, ever. Now Endeavor had reminded him, reminded him that today, if people realized what his Quirk really was, his entire world was going to be thrown into chaos.

"I'm gonna _murder_ him!"

Izuku jumped and suddenly became aware of several people crowding around him. The vicious snarl was from Katsuki, who was glaring down the hall where Endeavor had disappeared. His hands were clenched, as though he were envisioning himself throttling the fiery hero.

"Whoa man, maybe not get yourself killed picking a fight with the number two hero?" That was Hanta, who set a hand on Katsuki's shoulder.

"That sack of shit has it coming," Katsuki hissed.

"Shh!" Izuku flinched at the shushing sound that was much too close for comfort, but he couldn't shy away because he was already crammed against the wall. He froze as a pair of soft hands gently took his in their grasp, uncurling them from around his knees. Pink filled his vision and he realized Mina was crouching in front of him, watching him carefully. "Izuku, it's okay. Breathe…"

"I-" he wheezed, unable to say more without any oxygen in his lungs.

Mina shook her head, her voice low and gentle. "Shh, shh…just breathe."

Ochako stared at Izuku with worry in her eyes. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine, just give him a moment of quiet," Eijirou assured her. "Mina's good at this."

Mina glanced at them. "We need space. Go around the corner for a bit, I'll call you back."

Katsuki looked like he wanted to protest, but he knew he was no good at this. Whenever Izuku got like this in middle school, he had to run for the nurse because he just didn't know how to handle him. And it infuriated him that he felt so…helpless. But he obeyed, because he knew Izuku needed to settled down, and for that, he needed quiet.

Tenya nodded briefly. "Tell us if we need Recovery Girl."

"Will do," Mina shooed them away with a short jerk of her head and sat down in front of Izuku, still holding his hands and slowly rubbing circles into his palms. She had her arms stretched to give him as much space as she could afford, but stayed close in case he needed more contact.

It varied from person to person. The few times she'd done this for Eijirou, he preferred some distance. She didn't know how to handle Izuku. Katsuki might've been able to tell her, but Mina was good at working with people; she had a feeling he might prefer a little more contact than her hard-headed friend, but she also didn't want him feeling claustrophobic. There was a careful balance she needed to find to help him as best she could.

Izuku swallowed and tried to speak again. "How long-"

He wheezed again and she gently shushed him. "Shh…don't talk. You just focus on breathing, okay? It's alright. Take your time."

Gratefully, Izuku slumped against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to stop the wheezing and catch his breath. Mina continued to rub gentle circles into his hands and watched him closely.

It took a while; how long exactly, he wasn't sure, but Izuku was finally able to breathe again after a time. He opened his eyes to see Mina still there, amber eyes soft, but careful to watch for his reaction. The physical contact was alien, but not unwanted.

"'m sorry," he croaked.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," she soothed.

She released his hands for a moment, which disappointed him a little, until Izuku froze as her hands cupped his cheeks. Mina looked at him, smiling, but still cautiously watching for any negative reaction. "Do you need Recovery Girl?"

He glanced away from her, feeling his cheeks burn at the proximity. "N-no, I'm okay now…"

 _You're not okay,_ Mina thought, but she knew better than to tell him that. He wasn't stable enough right now for that kind of conversation. She tried a different topic. "Can you eat lunch?"

"…I think so," he replied slowly.

His eyes were a little glazed and that was a red flag to Mina that he still wasn't 100% there. He'd calmed, but he wasn't completely stable yet. He needed quiet. She glanced at the clock down the hall and chewed her lip thoughtfully. Thirty-five minutes before the final round of the tournament began…

She released his cheeks and took one of his hands again with hers, squeezing it while she zipped her phone out of her pocket. "What do you want to eat?"

"I mean…a sandwich?"

He probably needed more with all the energy he'd used up in the last two events, but Mina also knew he likely couldn't stomach that much right now. She typed in a quick text and sent it off before shoving her phone back into its place in her pocket. "Izuku? Do you think you can stand?"

"…maybe…"

Mina got up and took both of his hands, squeezing them gently again. "Let's get you up, okay?"

Izuku slowly nodded and pushed up as Mina pulled him onto his feet. She watched to make sure he was steady, then nodded in satisfaction. "Okay, let's go."

"Where?"

"Lunch," she replied.

* * *

Mina took Izuku to Recovery Girl's temporary office, which gave him pause, but she reassured him that it was the quietest place in the colosseum for the moment. The old heroine was completely alright with them staying for a bit; plus she noticed Izuku's state almost immediately and kept a close eye on him. She understood why Mina had brought Izuku here and also that he needed peace for a while.

They had a few minutes of quiet until someone knocked on the door and in strolled Katsuki, Ochaco, Tenya, and Eijirou. Each had a platter of food in their hands, though Katsuki and Eijirou each had two.

Katsuki set the platter down beside Izuku, as he was sitting on one of the infirmary beds. "Eat."

Izuku nodded meekly. "Thanks…"

"Hanta went back to the lunch hall to tell the others we're gonna eat elsewhere," Eijirou said as he handed a platter to Mina, who greedily seized the food.

"Cool," Mina replied as she bit into a slice of pizza.

Recovery Girl sighed from her desk. "Make sure you lot keep it down. This is an infirmary, not a lunch hall."

"Yes, ma'am," Ochako said politely, sitting in one of the chairs to eat. She looked up at Izuku anxiously. "Are you feeling better?"

Izuku nodded after swallowing a small bite of his sandwich. "Mmhm. Sorry about that. I…kinda lost my cool, I guess."

"I see…" Ochako frowned for a moment. "Deku? What-"

She paused as she caught a glimpse of Mina, who was waving at her to stop asking that particular question. Izuku didn't need to be queried about it right now. He had just settled down and putting him on edge again by reminding him of what had set him off would not help.

"…what do you think of the finals?" She changed the direction of the conversation. Mina gave her a thumbs-up.

Izuku stopped eating for a moment and thought about it, visibly wilting a little. "Actually…I-I was thinking of…of walking out here."

Tenya looked shocked. "What? Why? You've performed excellently thus far! You're one of the leaders everyone is looking forward to seeing in the finals!"

"I know, I just…" he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I don't think I can keep going in front of all these people. It's so much pressure…"

"Don't you at least want to try?" Eijirou asked. "I mean, you shut down Shoto's team pretty easily. No offense, Tenya."

"None taken."

"Th-that was different," he replied. "Mei had a bunch of gear set up for me to take advantage of. I don't think I can beat Shoto or the others in a one-on-one fight."

Recovery Girl surprised them by speaking up. "It's your decision, sonny. You know your limitations better than anyone else. Are you overheating?"

Izuku stopped and actually took a moment to assess his temperature. He felt a little warmer than normal, but it wasn't too bad…

"Maybe a bit, but…"

"You didn't break any bones in this round, did you?"

"No…"

Recovery Girl hummed for a moment. "It doesn't have to be physical, you know. If you just aren't feeling well, say the word and I'll have you pulled out of the finals."

"Wait, are you saying he should drop out?" Eijirou looked stunned.

The old woman huffed. "I am not. But I also need to make clear to _all_ of you that you shouldn't let others pressure you into doing something you're not ready for or comfortable with. Izuku, if you don't feel that you're ready for this, there's no shame in walking out of the tournament. At this point, you've already left a huge impression. Even if you hadn't, you've performed excellently so far. Some people just don't like the spotlight and that's completely fine. Do you know what Mr. Aizawa did every time this tournament rolled around?"

"What?"

"He did just the first- sometimes second- part of the tournament, then walked to the lockers and slept through the rest."

Ochako snorted. "That actually sounds like something he'd do!"

"This kind of tournament isn't designed for everyone. Yes, it's a great opportunity for aspiring heroes in U.A, but the other schools don't participate in this and they still pump out quality heroes. This is a national event, so a lot more pressure is put on it, but that doesn't mean everyone can or even _should_ force themselves to do it."

Izuku bit his lip. He was really thinking about doing it. It would be so easy to tell Recovery Girl that he wasn't up for the finals. He could avoid the whole last event, the possibility of revealing his Quirk to thousands of people and still be selected by a hero office for an internship. It sounded so ideal when he thought of it. But…

Katsuki probably wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the year. The rest of his classmates would be disappointed or feel he wasn't trying hard enough to be a hero, like the rest of them.

All Might…would probably understand, but Izuku had promised the man that he'd announce his arrival to the world of heroes here. He'd certainly done that, and yet…

Somehow, it didn't feel like it would be enough, and that thought scared him. Recovery Girl had just said he shouldn't give into the pressure, but how could he not in this situation? He wasn't aiming to be like Mr. Aizawa, he was aiming to be like _All Might_. He _had_ to push himself, even if it made him uncomfortable and scared the hell out of him.

"…I'm going to stay in," he decided with a shaky breath.

Recovery Girl dipped her head. "If that's what you really want. Tell me if you change your mind."

"Thanks," Izuku said honestly.

Lunch passed incredibly slowly for him. The ball of dread in his stomach only grew stronger all the while. He had a really, really bad feeling about this.

But he said nothing.

* * *

"The finals are coming around, huh…" Mitsuki remarked as she took a bite of pizza, watching the recaps of the last two events on television. "It's basically just a big fighting tournament this year, right?"

Inko nodded worriedly. "It's like that most years unless something comes up. I hope the boys will be okay…"

Masaru snorted. "Katsuki's probably going to have the time of his life. He loves fighting. Izuku…I'm sure he'll be fine. He's smart enough to work his way around a fight."

"But what about…" Inko trailed off. "I'm scared of what might happen if he has to use his Quirk in an all-out fight. There are so many people in that colosseum…"

Mitsuki considered her worries in silence for a moment. "I think he'll be okay. All Might's there, remember? He'll keep Izuku safe if word gets out during the fight."

Inko bit her lip. "But…what happens after that? He's just a boy…what if it's too much for him?"

Masaru glanced over his shoulder towards the kitchen, where Eri was raiding the fridge for a juice box, blissfully unaware of the seriousness of their conversation. If Izuku real heritage was discovered during the fight…

He had a feeling Eri would have to be Izuku's caretaker for a bit.

* * *

A Brainwashing Quirk. He was up against a guy with a Brainwashing Quirk.

Katsuki had called it even before the tournament started. This guy, Hitoshi Shinso, was one of the U.A students who got boxed into General Education because his Quirk wasn't suited to the Entrance Exam. But it was still _ridiculously_ overpowered.

If he said so much as a word in response, Mashirao had warned him before the fight, his mind would instantly be under Hitoshi's control. That was easily one of the most frightening Quirks Izuku had ever encountered. He had taken control of Mashirao, Yuga, and another student from Class B as though it were a second thought during the last event and the resulting memory loss experienced by Mashirao and the Class B boy was enough to convince them that they didn't deserve to participate in the last event. As a result of that, Tetsutetsu and Ibara from Class B took their spots in the finals.

Hitoshi's Quirk was definitely hero-tier. With one word, he could convince kidnappers to release hostages, murderers to turn themselves in, and robbers to simply leave a bank.

Or tell him to turn around and walk out of the battlefield.

 **"** **Whoa, whoa, what's going on?!"** Present Mic demanded, not ten seconds after Midnight announced the beginning of the first fight. **"Izuku's not moving an inch! He's just sitting there like a gaping fish! Did Hitoshi already hit him with his Quirk?! I didn't see anything!"**

 **"** **This is why I've been saying the Entrance Exam is illogical,"** Aizawa grunted. **"Hitoshi's Quirk is actually quite powerful, but it's got no use against robotic enemies, like my Quirk. There's just no way for someone to pass an exam like that even with a Quirk as strong as his."**

Hitoshi was half-glaring at Izuku, the dark bags under his eyes giving him an almost frightening appearance. "It must be nice to be so blessed, Izuku. Now do me a favor: turn around and walk out of bounds."

And as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, Izuku turned and began walking for the boundary line.

Inwardly, Izuku was shrieking for a way out. His head felt fuzzy and he couldn't control his motor functions, but he still had cognitive thought. He just couldn't convince his body to stop what it was doing and listen to him. Even though Mashirao had warned him, he'd still taken the bait from Hitoshi's taunt!

All of a sudden, he found himself stopping in place. He had tunnel vision because of how fuzzy his mind was, and at the focal point of it all emerged what seemed to be a dark abyss. Within the abyss were eight pairs of eyes, each glowing a unique color. For a moment, he felt control come back to his body.

But before he could do anything, the abyss of darkness grew deeper. The eyes vanished, swallowed up within the blackness, and Izuku felt his blood go cold. A primal chill crawled up his spine as a voice, soft as a breeze, but more terrifying than anything he'd ever heard, breathed into his ear.

 _"_ _You_ ** _are_** _mine."_

Emerald covered his vision for an instant and disappeared within a split second. Izuku's flames had erupted out of sheer instinct, covering him from head to toe, but they vanished so quickly that nobody was able to see the horns that popped up for just a moment. Izuku stopped at the edge of the line, gasping for breath, sweating, and shivering as though he'd just run for his life.

 **"** **WHOA!"** Present Mic jumped from the unexpected and short burst of green fire. **"Wait, what? Izuku stopped in his tracks!"**

Aizawa raised an eyebrow curiously. _He snapped out of it on his own?_

Izuku almost dropped to his knees, he was shaking so badly. He had no idea what just happened, but it had instilled such terror in him that he couldn't even think for a moment. Fortunately for him, his miraculous escape from the brainwashing shocked Hitoshi just as much.

"How did you…?" Hitoshi trailed off, stunned. His voice jerked Izuku back to reality and the boy spun back around, a wild look in his eyes.

Izuku regained his mental function from that, but even so he had to slow his thought process down from the roller coaster of sensory information going through him.

 _Calm down, calm down, calm down,_ he mentally chanted. _I can't say another word or he's going to win. Gotta breathe…gotta slow down for a second…_

He started taking deep breaths, gradually getting himself back into a more controlled state. Hitoshi could see what he was doing and mentally cursed. _He's not gonna fall for that twice, but he's still shocked from losing control of himself. I gotta taunt him into giving me another opening._

"Say something, why don't you," Hitoshi demanded, sneering. "That's some power you've got, even able to snap you outta brainwashing. I'm jealous! There's no way I could get to the top with a power like this, not that someone as blessed as you would ever understand!"

Izuku took one last breath before looking up at Hitoshi and staring him dead in the eyes. He started walking towards the other teen, igniting his right hand and clenching it into a fist.

Hitoshi faltered at the deadly calm his opponent was giving off, but only for a moment before he resumed the string of taunts. "That power of yours is going to be incredible once you finish your training at U.A! The Pros are gonna be all over it for its destructive power, but that's all they'll want you for! You're just a tool with a useful Quirk!"

Izuku stopped in his tracks. Hitoshi thought he was getting to him and seized the opportunity to pour it on, willing the boy to say something and give control back to him. "Yeah, never crossed your mind, did it? Most heroes these days are just lucky tools with useful powers! Only a few are really great, like All Might! The rest let the idea of heroics control them! You're just another tool being crafted to destroy villains! You'll never amount to anything beyond-"

There was a blur of motion and then Izuku was in his face. Hitoshi froze in surprise as Izuku grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back, using the 5% of One for All he had spread through his body and disguising it with the flames on his hands and feet.

"Let me go!" Hitoshi yelled, swinging a fist and connecting with Izuku's nose.

Blood started trickling down his face and onto his lip, but Izuku ignored it and gave another hard shove at the very brink of his control limit, lifting Hitoshi off the ground and shoving him over the line so he was out of bounds.

"Hitoshi is out of bounds!" Midnight announced, cracking her flogger. "Izuku advances to the second round!"

Hitoshi clenched his fist in frustration, but he wasn't surprised. If anything, the knowledge that he had known he'd probably lose made it worse.

"My Quirk isn't a blessing," Izuku's voice suddenly jarred Hitoshi to look up at the other teen. He could only just hear him over the roar of the crowd. "It's not something I'm happy to have. I never wanted it. But…I have it. And I can never get rid of it. _You're_ the lucky one. You'll probably be a hero one day. Me…I'm not sure if I ever will be one. Not really."

He walked off back to the lockers then, unable to hear the chants of the crowd and unwilling to remain under their gazes for another moment.

Hitoshi got up and watched him go, perplexed. Sure, he had willingly taunted Izuku, but his reaction was…different than he'd expected. Anger, frustration, denial…he'd expected that, or maybe for the teen's timid personality to get the better of him so he gave up.

He hadn't expected Izuku to look so…despondent and hopeless. Had his words cut deeper than he'd intended?

 _My power isn't a blessing._

 _How is a power like that not a blessing?_ Hitoshi wondered as he left the battlefield, defeated, but unconcerned with it entirely. Izuku's Quirk was one he'd been the most wary of given his incredible success in the previous two rounds. Not just its strength, but his sheer intellect was something Hitoshi had been on guard for.

The entire fight had thrown him for a loop when Izuku demonstrated none of those things. His behavior- from what little Hitoshi knew of him, but he was good at assessing how people ticked by observing them- was erratic and out of the ordinary, even before the fight began. He'd seemed…well…

 _Tired_.

* * *

Mina watched as Izuku slipped out of the arena, frowning in worry. "He's still not acting like himself…"

Eijirou scratched the back of his head. "I kinda hoped he'd be a little bit better after the fight, but he just looks worse."

Denki glanced over his shoulder towards Katsuki, who was seated behind him. "What did Endeavor even say? I thought he pulled you two aside to say he was impressed or something. You two made such a good showing in the first two events."

Katsuki bared his teeth. "I don't know. That fire-fuck told me some stuff, then sent me away to talk with Deku alone."

"You don't think he…threatened him or something, do you?" Eijirou suggested hesitantly. "I mean, Endeavor's the number two hero. Given his Quirk, I thought he'd be the obvious choice to suggest an internship for Izuku. That's why I thought he'd wanna talk with him, but…"

Katsuki's glaring eyes edged from the field and over his shoulder to Shoto, who was leaning against the wall near the exit from the bleachers their class was sitting in. That sonofabitch was the one who started this snowballing effect on Izuku and his dad had dropped a fucking avalanche immediately after to make it worse.

Katsuki Bakugo did _not_ believe in coincidences, no sir.

"Don't get angry at Shoto for whatever Endeavor said," Mina chastised after following his gaze. "He hasn't done anything wrong."

Ignoring her, Katsuki suddenly stood up and stalked towards the other teenager. Shoto locked eyes with him and glared back in irritation.

"What do you want?" Shoto asked.

"Did you tell your fucking dad to threaten Deku or something?" Katsuki snarled.

Shoto seemed genuinely startled, but also annoyed. "Did I what?"

"Don't fuck with me," Katsuki hissed. "You dragged him aside before the tournament started and then your dad pulled Deku away at lunch and said something to him. He almost walked out of the tournament because of it! What did that asshole say to him?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shoto retorted, although he did seem somewhat alarmed and angry. "I don't want anything to do with that shitty old man."

Katsuki stared at him in disbelief. "I'm not buying that lame-ass excuse."

"That's your problem," Shoto snapped. Katsuki grabbed him by the collar and he reached up to freeze the other teen's wrist. "Let me-"

"Do you know about Deku's Quirk?" Katsuki demanded, his voice low.

Shoto blinked in confusion. "What?"

"…no, huh?" Katsuki suddenly let him go and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know what your deal is with Deku or why your dad decided to mess with him, but I'm not going to let it go. You better pray you don't fight me in the tournament, icy-hot. You'll be leaving on a stretcher if you do."

He left the bleachers then, off to prepare for his fight or to find Izuku, Shoto wasn't sure, nor did he care. But he had more important questions than where Katsuki was going. As he walked off to his first fight, he pondered the explosive teen's question.

What did he need to know about Izuku's Quirk?

* * *

"Whew…okay!" Ochako nodded to herself, trying to get as pumped up as she could. "I've got this! I can beat Katsuki!"

Admittedly, she was freaking out because Katsuki was an absolute beast in a fight and she…wasn't as combat savvy as he was, but she knew she could beat him. She'd come up with a plan and, as crazy as it was, Ochako knew if she pulled it off that she would win.

She stood up, about to leave the lockers and walk off some of her nerves before the fight, when the door opened and caused her to jump. "Wah! J-jeez, you scared- Deku?"

Izuku flinched and glanced at her, setting off alarms in Ochako's head. He looked so defeated. Hadn't he just won his fight?

"H-hi," he managed, lips quirking up into a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Are you getting ready to go in?"

"Yeah," she pursed her lips, frowning as he trudged towards a table and sat down, practically withering into the seat and laying his head on his arms. "Is…are you okay?"

She mentally kicked herself for saying that as soon as the words left her mouth because he was obviously _not_ okay. Ochako just didn't know what else to say. She was worried about her friend because he was never like this. Izuku was shy, introverted, and quiet, but he was never…depressed. Or at least, she didn't think he was. He seemed like a pretty cheerful guy most of the time even if it was hard for him to say a complete sentence without stammering.

He'd been nervous before the tournament started, but _everyone_ had been nervous. She'd seen his confident side come out during the second event- he'd led their team with such ease. What had happened in the hour between events to bring him so low? What had Endeavor said? Recovery Girl had seemed to help him a bit, but now he was down again. How was she supposed to help him? She didn't know what to…

Ah-ha!

Before Izuku could answer her, Ochako bounced over and set a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. But I just thought of something good!"

"What is it?" He asked, lifting his head slightly and reddening at how close she was.

"You're Deku!" She exclaimed, making him blink momentarily in confusion. "Remember what I said? Deku sounds like the word for "never give up!" So you don't need to be so worried, okay? As long as you never give up, everything is gonna be alright."

Izuku looked back down at the table, fighting the slight smile that was trying to make its way onto his face. "I mean…I'll try…"

"No," Ochako replied, her face becoming very serious as she spoke in a funny little accent. "Do, or do not. There is no try."

"Pfft," Izuku couldn't help the snort that escaped him. "I didn't know you watched those movies."

"They're good movies!" She grinned. "And Yoda's my favorite character. He's smart, funny, and green, like you!"

Izuku actually laughed a little this time, though his face was still red from the unexpected compliment. She thought he was smart and funny?

They both yelped suddenly as the arena shook violently for a moment. A few seconds later, the announcement came over the speakers from Present Mic.

 **"** **Shoto defeats Hanta! It was over in an instant! Jeez, he's too damn strong! Don't worry about that one, Hanta! I don't think even I could do anything against that!"**

Izuku felt his stomach curl back into a pit. Shoto had won. He was fighting Izuku in the second round.

Ochako gulped. "What the heck…what did Shoto just do?"

"He probably set off all of his ice in an instant," Izuku murmured. "Shoto's just…he's too strong. His Quirk is so powerful, but his judgement, reaction, and timing skills are all incredible as well."

She bit her lip as the teen withered again. She'd been so close to making him feel better, too…

The door to the locker room suddenly opened and she glanced towards it, only to jump in surprise at the sight of All Might poking his head in. The number one hero spotted them and waved. "Hey, there! You two preparing for your fights?"

"Yes, sir!" Ochako replied peppily. She glanced at Izuku, who was trying to muster up a smile for his idol, and hesitated before making a decision. "Actually, could I ask you for some tips real quick, All Might? I want to know if this idea I've got to fight Katsuki will work."

All Might blinked as Ochako walked over to him and smiled. "It'll only take a second! I'd rather ask in private so Izuku can't use my strategy against me when we fight in the finals!"

"Of course," he nodded, glancing at Izuku. "I'll be right back, young man!"

Izuku shook his head. "Take your time."

Ochako ushered them out of the locker and closed it behind her. All Might looked at the teenager curiously. "So, what's this strategy you've got planned, young Ochako?"

"It's not important," Ochako said quietly, momentarily confusing the Pro. "Listen, something happened earlier and I don't know if anyone's said anything to the teachers yet…"

All Might listened in disbelief, which quickly turned into fury as Ochako explained what had happened. How Endeavor had pulled aside Katsuki and Izuku from lunch and said _something_ that made Izuku shut down to the point that his friends brought him to Recovery Girl.

"He's been really out of it ever since then," Ochako went on, frowning in worry. "I've tried cheering him up, but…I don't know how to help him. Can you do something to make him feel better? Please?"

She looked up as a large hand set itself on her shoulder. All Might smiled down at her. "Don't fret, young Ochako. You've helped him a lot by telling me about this. I'll do my best to help him."

Relief flowed over her and Ochako nodded happily. "Thank you. I wish there was something I could do…"

"You've done the best any friend could," he assured her. "Now I need to speak with him for a moment alone. Would you mind informing the rest of your friends that I'll handle it from here on out? I'll inform the other teachers as well."

"Thank you, All Might," she said again, then jogged off to find their friends.

All Might took a moment to gather himself. He couldn't believe Endeavor had the audacity to threaten Izuku _immediately_ after the warning All Might had given him. It seemed he would have to find another way to make the number two hero leave Izuku alone. This was unacceptable.

He entered the locker room again, where Izuku was still sitting at the table. Only now that he was looking for it did All Might see the despondent face he was trying so hard to hide, an expression of someone who felt trapped by the world surrounding him.

He picked up a chair and brought it over to Izuku's side before shifting out of his muscle form and into his true self. All Might wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders and brought him into a firm embrace before he even said anything. He felt Izuku tense and it saddened him that his protege was _this_ frightened. That he was anticipating the world's rejection of him so much that even friendly contact like this made him nervous.

"All Might?" Izuku asked hesitantly.

"I don't know what Endeavor said to you," All Might murmured, feeling the boy stiffen in his grasp. "But whatever it was, it doesn't matter. The world will not be able to stop you from becoming a hero, Izuku. No matter who tries to reject you, you have done nothing wrong. _Nothing_. Your existence is not a crime. Your life is not a crime. And anyone who says otherwise is too blind to make a difference in the world. Should all else fail, I will stand beside you. Do you understand?"

Izuku's head fell forward. "I..I can't ask you to risk your reputation for me. You're everyone's hero, All Might. I…no one will care if I just go back to being a Quirkless nobody living a normal life. The world needs you more than it needs me."

"There will undoubtedly be people who question my decision," All Might admitted with a shrug. "But I don't care. You are the one I believe is best suited to follow in my footsteps. Maybe it's because you were a "Quirkless nobody"…just like me."

Izuku froze and slowly turned to stare at his mentor. "Wh..what?"

"That's right," All Might smiled. "I was Quirkless before my mentor gave me One for All."

"You…you were Quirkless?" Izuku echoed in disbelief, completely missing Present Mic's commentary over the speakers. "But you're…you…"

"And you are _you_ ," All Might answered. "You aren't your father, Izuku. No matter what Endeavor or the rest of the world says. You aren't him. And I will shield you from all of those people until you show them who you really are."

He hugged the boy to him, feeling Izuku shake in his arms. The teen needed this outlet right now; needed this contact and reassurance to keep him going. So All Might gave him what he needed with patience and understanding.

They sat there for a long while as Present Mic and Aizawa commented on the fights over the speakers, ignoring them for the most part. No matter how much All Might wanted to watch his other students, he had to prioritize Izuku's wellbeing.

Finally, the first round came to an end as Mic announced the conclusion of the last fight in an annoyed tone. **"Oh yeah, Katsuki defeats Ochako. Onto the next fight!"**

Aizawa responded in irritation. **"You're supposed to be unbiased."**

 **"** **The second round will begin in a few minutes! Shoto Todoroki vs Izuku Midoriya! Will the two competitors please make their way to the stage!"**

Izuku stiffened as his fight was announced, but pulled away from All Might regardless and stood up, wiping his face of the tear marks. "Th-thank you, All Might."

"Any time," he replied, setting a hand on his student's shoulder. "Izuku…it's going to be a difficult fight. I'm sure you know how strong Shoto is. But I have faith that you can do this. So go forth, young man, with all your strength and knowledge."

Izuku nodded. He took in a deep breath and then left the locker room, an energy to his step that hadn't been there before. All Might went into his muscle form and followed him, knowing that he was about to witness what was going to be one of the most difficult fights of Izuku's entire life.

* * *

 **"** **ARE YOU READY?!"**

The crowds cheered as Present Mic continued to rile them up. **"We've got one of the biggest matches in the tournaments coming up! From the hero course, the incredibly overpowered contestant who dominated his first fight in a single move! It's Shoto Todoroki!"**

Shoto walked out onto the field, watching steadily as his opponent climbed the steps to meet him on the other side.

 **"** **Also from the hero course, it's the strategic mastermind who's led this tournament from the very beginning! The unexpected, plain guy who's made a huge splash thus far! Izuku Midoriya!"**

Izuku stared back at Shoto, fighting the nerves surging beneath his skin in an effort to stay calm.

* * *

Ochako, now bandaged up and feeling a bit better after her fight against Katsuki, clenched her fists in her seat beside Tsuyu. "Here we go…"

"He looks better," Hanta noted with a grin. "I guess All Might said something to help him out."

Tenya nodded. "Hm! As expected of the number one hero!"

"This fight is going to be insane," Eijirou said tensely. "They're both crazy strong. I honestly don't know who's going to win."

"Depends," Katsuki muttered.

"On what?"

 **"** **Match…"**

Katsuki glared down into the arena. _Whether or not Deku can fully use his Quirk in front of thousands of people._

 **"** **START!"**


	14. Prometheus

_Chapter Fourteen: Prometheus_

Shoto was making his way to the colosseum entrance for his fight against Izuku with a lot on his mind. It was difficult to concentrate with all of these questions swirling about, especially when every question he had was in regard to his upcoming opponent. There had always been something about Izuku that…bothered him, for lack of a better word. He wasn't sure what it was, but there had always been something about him…

His thoughts ground to a halt as he turned the corner and spotted an unwelcome figure leaning against the wall, waiting for him. Shoto scowled immediately. "Get lost."

Endeavor glared at him sternly. "Shoto, you can't keep throwing childish fits like this. If you're to become the greatest hero in the world, you have to get over this…phase of yours soon."

"Shut up," Shoto snapped, walking past him. "I don't care about what you want."

"Very well. Continue to be childish and refuse my power. See how far using only your mother's Quirk gets you."

The teenager paused in his step and glared at his father over his shoulder. "Izuku Midoriya's Quirk is similar to Heat Viper's isn't it?"

Endeavor's eyes darkened. "And?"

"You always insist I use my flames and until now, I've always refused," Shoto sneered at the man. "For this one match, I'll make an exception. I'll defeat the flame you couldn't and I hope I get to see the look on your face when you realize how utterly useless your power is on its own."

Shoto stalked off then, firing one last parting shot at his father. "Also, I don't know what you hoped to gain by speaking to Izuku earlier, but it's meaningless. Your time is ending, old man. Stay out of my business."

* * *

 **"** **Match…"**

Shoto clenched his hand a few times in preparation for the first assault. Across the field, Izuku looked calm, but he could see the jittery nerves the teen had in the way he stood so stiffly. _I've got questions about you, but they can wait. For now, I'm going to dominate that Quirk of yours._

 **"** **START!"**

Shoto immediately launched a stream of ice at his opponent along the ground, only for Izuku's hands and feet to ignite. The other teen lunged to one side and evaded the first attack, but Shoto was quick to twist towards him and repeat the long-range move. Again, Izuku dodged, and he evaded the next several bursts that came his way as well. He had to give Izuku credit- he was pretty fast. It would take a while before Shoto would hit him if he kept this up. And the more time Izuku had, the more likely he'd come up with a strategy to defeat him.

 _Dodge_ ** _this_** _,_ Shoto thought a moment before unleashing the massive, glacial blast he'd used against Hanta in his first match.

Izuku's eyes widened at the massive stream of ice flying at him. He quickly raised his hand and charged one hundred percent of One for All in his finger before letting it all loose with a flick.

The shockwave ripped the ice apart and sent a blast of freezing wind through the stadium, causing people to shriek in surprise. Izuku's jaw clenched- his finger was broken now, but he'd survived Shoto's biggest attack. At least now he knew he could counter it.

He needed more intelligence. Izuku watched Shoto as the other teen recovered from the sudden gale of wind, having stopped himself from flying out of the arena by creating a block of ice behind him. He blinked as he realized that Shoto's right side was covered in frost from that latest, huge move.

Suddenly, Shoto's left side ignited into orange flames, which, after a few seconds, melted the ice from his right side.

It clicked in Izuku's head after only a moment. _So that's how it works. He can't just shoot off ice endlessly- too much forms frost on his body and he has to use his heat side to counteract that. It's like a video game ability that slows the user over time._

As long as Shoto was able to do that, he could basically fire off ice endlessly, then reset with his flames and repeat the process until he wore Izuku down. It was a good plan, but Izuku had every intention of taxing him for that strategy.

Shoto's eyes widened in surprise as he was unexpectedly jerked forward by his flames, which were pulled towards Izuku and transmuted into green flames as soon as they reached him. He bared his teeth in annoyance and cut the flames off, but Izuku had already gained a fair amount of fire from his left side. He'd never seen Izuku do that before and it had caught him off guard.

Now his strategy had a time limit of sorts. If he took too long in defeating Izuku, his opponent would eventually gain so much fire that he could overpower Shoto's ice. In other words, he needed to end the fight before it could go on for too long.

Realizing that the best way to do that was to get up close, Shoto lunged forward on a wave of ice, closing the gap to Izuku as quickly as possible. Izuku threw a fireball at him, but Shoto had regained most of his mobility and evaded the attack whilst simultaneously diving in closer. He was at Izuku's feet before the other teen knew what was happening.

 _You gotta rush him so fast that he doesn't have time to think,_ Shoto recalled from their first combat training session. _Thanks for that, Katsuki._

Shoto unleashed another icy barrage as Izuku leapt up to escape, catching the fleeing teen by the foot and trapping him in place. Izuku panicked, sending One for All through his entire left arm before punching at the ice and blowing it and Shoto away.

Pain surged through his now broken limb as he landed, glancing up to see if Shoto had been knocked out of bounds. But it seemed that the other teenager had anticipated the counterattack and had erected a shield of ice behind him to prevent himself from getting blown out of the arena.

Izuku grit his teeth as he recognized the hard truth- Shoto's Quirk wasn't his only strong point. He was one of the smartest kids in the class and his reaction time, assessments, and planning were all spot-on as well. He was, in every meaning of the word, strong.

Shoto charged again, more than ready to finish the fight. His opponent was crippled now and he still had a very limited supply of fire to use against him. He needed to end the contest before it went on for too long. Izuku was hurt, but Shoto knew his brain was working just fine.

Rushing his opponent on another wave of ice, Shoto closed the gap and unleashed another icy blast. Izuku dodged to the side this time, knowing that he would get caught if he just jumped up again, but Shoto was onto him. Despite launching a stream of fire at the teen, Shoto quickly caught up to Izuku by ducking past the flames and striking him with a pinpoint burst of ice from the side, which caught Izuku's chest and broken left arm.

The blow launched Izuku off his feet and slammed him into the ground face-first with such force that it knocked the wind out of him.

Shoto backed off a bit and took the opportunity to reheat his body up- with Izuku stunned, he couldn't steal his flames again. He was pretty sure that was it, but he wanted to be ready in case Izuku actually got up to fight some more.

* * *

Katsuki's hands clenched as Izuku was shot down by that last burst of ice. He could see his partner-in-crime trying to collect himself on the ground, but it was painfully obvious to Katsuki that Izuku was scared out of his mind. They both knew what he needed to do. No matter how great of a tactician he was, he never should have tried to fight Shoto without using his Quirk's full strength. If he didn't use All Flare completely now, he was going to lose.

Eijirou shook his head beside him. "Dude, this is not okay. They're gonna call it now, right? I mean, his arm's totally broken…"

"Shut up," Katsuki snarled, gritting his teeth and startling Eijirou.

Izuku could do this. He could win. If he could just fight with All Flare, he could win! _Would_ win!

In that moment, Katsuki hated every single person in the stadium, whether they would realize the connection between Izuku's Quirk and Heat Viper or not, because he knew it was the risk of that which was keeping Izuku from giving it everything he had. His friend was scared of everyone and Katsuki wished that the whole stadium would just fuck off.

He could hear it around him as the rest of their class murmured uneasily.

"They really need to stop this before he hurts himself any more…"

"He did better than I did…yeesh, Shoto's just too strong, huh?"

"It's too bad. I really thought he might have a shot at winning, but Shoto's just wrecking him."

 _Shut up._

 _SHUT UP._

 ** _SHUT UP!_**

Katsuki couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't just sit here and watch this happen!

* * *

Izuku gasped for breath on the ground, trying to recover from the attack that had more or less frozen his broken left arm to his torso. He couldn't wrench it free and every attempt to do so sent spiking waves of pain through his body. He needed to burn it off. Needed to ignite his chest and arm to get this ice off.

No, he needed to use _all_ of his flames right now! He should have been doing that from the very start, anyways! He couldn't make enough fire for it to really matter if he just ignited his hands and feet like he'd been doing. It was true that he could only make a limited supply of fire, but the full body flare was a lot more than just his hands and feet. If he fully ignited, it would also make it really hard for Shoto to freeze him again. If he could just steal enough flames from Shoto with his full-on flare, he still had a chance to win.

 _But he couldn't do it._

Because Izuku knew that right now, all eyes were on him to see if he'd get up and continue the fight. He could hear Present Mic riling the audience up, questioning if the fight was over or if he was going to stand back up and keep going at it. Everyone was watching and if he flared up…they'd all see it. A lot of them would probably figure it out in a matter of moments.

And it _terrified_ him.

"Ugh…uh…" He couldn't stop the hot tears from slipping down his face even though he was squeezing his eyes shut. He was too scared. Too ashamed of himself. He couldn't get up. He started to collapse and his forehead pressed against he ground.

And before Midnight could even open her mouth to declare the fight over, he heard someone screaming over the roar of the crowd.

 **"** **IZUKU! GET BACK UP!"**

Izuku's eyes flew open as he heard Katsuki screaming at the top of his lungs, even over Present Mic's voice. His world froze for a moment.

 **"** **I'M NOT SCARED OF YOU! GET UP!"**

His body was shaking so much that he couldn't even think. Even with tears still falling from his wide-open eyes, Izuku reacted to his friend's cry in the only way he knew how.

An emerald blaze erupted around him with a roar, surging over his entire body. A pair of fiery horns sprouted from two locks of hair atop his head, which flowed back and forth slowly as the ice around his arm and chest melted in an instant. Izuku managed to push himself up to his feet and stood there, fully wreathed in the flames of All Flare for the world to see.

He couldn't breathe as he just stared across the field at Shoto for a few moments. The other teen stared back and Izuku could practically see the gears turning in his head.

Then it clicked and Shoto's eyes grew wide.

* * *

Most of Class 1A hadn't been sure what to make of Katsuki suddenly screaming at Izuku, especially that he wasn't scared of the timid boy of all things, but now they were seeing a whole new side of Izuku's Quirk that they had never been aware of.

"Why the hell didn't he do that at the beginning?" Denki's jaw dropped as he stared at the immolated teenager on the field below them. "That's badass!"

"Momo," Kyoka let out a low breath when she realized what she was looking at. "His Quirk…"

Momo herself looked utterly stunned. "I..I think it's…the same…"

"Um, are you guys okay?" Eijirou asked, concerned. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Maybe we have," Hanta answered in a disbelieving voice. He looked at the explosive teen behind him. "Katsuki? Is…is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah, so what?!" Katsuki snarled viciously, infuriated by the startled expressions on his classmate's face. "If you're gonna pussy out, then get the fuck out of my space!"

"Whoa, dude, chill," Eijirou tried to calm him down, only for Katsuki to practically growl like a feral animal. "Would someone tell me what's going on?"

"Eijirou."

He glanced at Mina, who never tore her eyes from Izuku as she answered him with a shaky voice. "That's the same Quirk Heat Viper used to destroy an entire city when he fought All Might fifteen years ago."

* * *

Inko covered her mouth as she watched Izuku completely flare up on the television. "Oh, my baby…I don't know if I can watch."

Mitsuki squeezed her friend's shoulder tightly and pursed her lips. The cat was out of the bag now. "All Might's there. It'll be okay, Inko."

Eri stared at Izuku's emblazoned form, but she wasn't caught up by the fire so much as the expression on his face.

 _Do you get scared when you use your Quirk?_

 _Every time._

She could see the fear on Izuku's face, in the way he was shivering so badly beneath that wreath of flames. Eri felt her bottom lip tremble as she realized that he was so, so scared. "Izu…"

* * *

There was no way. There was just no way.

But Shoto couldn't come up with another explanation. It had all been laid out in front of him in black and white and he'd missed it until the evidence was practically thrust in his face.

Flame Quirks were relatively common. Flames with differing colors were a little more rare, but not unusually so. What _was_ rare was for a Flame Quirk to be as strong as someone like Endeavor's.

Or Heat Viper's.

Most Flame Quirks fell into a large category of common-flame users, usually those who could only create small amounts of flame or manipulate them in small quantities. Very few Flame Quirks were ever found to possess the same, raw strength as those like Endeavor's or even Shoto's.

He'd known Izuku's Quirk was powerful from the few times he'd seen it in action. The explosive force he could create, the way he'd carbonized Noumu's cells, how he'd kept Shoto away with such ease during the second event…Izuku's Quirk was one of the rare Flame Quirks that was actually quite powerful. And usually, those with powerful Flame Quirks became part of the Hero Society. Yet he'd never recalled Izuku having a direct relation to any of the heroes with recognizably strong flames.

He'd seen green fire before, but never green flames that consumed other sources of fire and transmuted them. He'd only seen _one_ flame do that, and only through a video recording when the owner of that flame single-handedly pulverized Endeavor and then fought All Might with vicious tenacity.

It had been staring him in the face all along and now the horns atop Izuku's head were practically _glaring_ at him for being so oblivious to the truth.

Izuku Midoriya's Quirk wasn't just similar to Heat Viper's. It was the _same Quirk._

In some ways, it was different- Shoto recalled that Viper could generate a nearly-limitless supply of fire, whilst Izuku was very limited. Yet he also remembered from the video footage he'd watched that Viper didn't have the same, fine control that Izuku possessed.

But there were too many similarities. Too many points he could see where Izuku and Viper's Quirks overlapped.

Which meant they _had_ to be blood relatives. And by that line of thinking…it meant _Izuku was Viper's child._

Shoto suddenly realized that Endeavor knew. That was why he'd confronted Izuku during lunch, why Katsuki had grown so angry and demanded what he knew about Izuku's Quirk. Which meant Katsuki had known as well.

He shook those thoughts from his head. He'd get his answers after this was over. For now…he had to defeat Izuku. Now that he was actually using his Quirk to its fullest extent, what else could he do? If he could use any of the abilities Viper could…Shoto remembered those attacks from the video footage very well. He hesitated and took a careful step back.

No. Izuku's Quirk was very similar to Viper's, but Shoto also knew that Izuku had a limited supply of fire. He couldn't do any of those things without more fuel. Which meant Shoto could still overpower him with his ice and fire combinations.

He unleashed a fully-powered, glacial blast at the teenager on the other side of the field, but Izuku flicked his finger and blew the ice away once more. Shoto gritted his teeth. There was still that damned explosive force of his. He'd have to weaken him at range and try again. As long as he didn't give Izuku too much fire…the fight was still his.

Izuku himself was still breathing shakily, terrified and in pain all at once. He could barely think straight, but he knew from the stunned silence of the crowd around him that people were starting to figure it out. They were realizing what his Quirk was. What _he_ was.

He had to end this fight before he got too overwhelmed to react properly. He needed fire, but Shoto wasn't making any. The half-hot, half-cold teen was obviously jarred by the sight of Izuku's Quirk, but he was still fighting smart.

He needed fire! He didn't flare up for nothing! Wasn't putting himself through this for nothing! He had to win! He _needed_ fire!

Izuku reached out towards Shoto, willing the flames to come out somehow. Even though Shoto hadn't ignited his left side, Izuku desperately tried to draw the fire out from his opponent as if his life depended on it.

Suddenly, Shoto's body jerked forward slightly.

Shoto froze, trying to figure out what had just happened. He was jerked forward again and nearly stumbled, fighting the sensation of… _something_ tugging at his insides. It tugged again despite his attempts to stop it, but it was such an odd feeling. He wasn't sure if he _could_ fight against it in the first place.

Red-hot fire burst from his left side and surged towards Izuku, shocking both teens that Izuku's desperate attempt to draw flame from Shoto had actually _worked_.

It wasn't just a _little_ fire, either. A literal river poured forth from Shoto's left side, forcing him to his knees as he desperately tried to fight against whatever the hell it was that was happening to him. Izuku was too stunned to stop himself and he was still frozen when the torrent of flame slammed into him. It coiled around Izuku like ribbons, even overwhelming the green fire encasing him for a moment. It was just _so much_ that the flames couldn't be transmuted fast enough.

He cried out in shock as oppressive heat raged against his skin and he struggled to reign in the fire that he couldn't yet control. His flesh started to burn from the heat and in a moment of terror, Izuku thought he'd actually burn to death within that cocoon of fire.

But after a few seconds, his emerald flames roared in response to their master and devoured the threatening fire at an accelerated rate. The roaring in his ears grew louder and louder until the threat was consumed and All Flare settled around him.

Shoto looked up and stared at the teenager on the other side of the field, speechless from the sight.

The horns were longer now. They were still thin and comprised entirely of fire, but they were significantly longer and flowed like ribbons. The flames closest to Izuku's body were nearly white as opposed to the green ones further away, probably because they were hotter. His arms and legs were enveloped by flames that seemed to form rough, large claws, but they were a little too distorted to tell.

Orbiting slowly around the main body of fire around Izuku were five jade fireballs, each varying in size, but each one considerably large.

Shoto couldn't believe how much fire was concentrated around Izuku. He couldn't really see his opponent's face, but Izuku's eyes were practically glowing behind the curtain of flame- it was likely an adaptation of his Quirk so he could see effectively through the fire around him. They were wide and if Shoto had to guess, Izuku probably looked as surprised as he felt.

He got up and mentally tossed aside all plans of being conservative. Izuku had way too much fire for him to be concerned about them being stolen at this point. He'd just have to blast barrage after barrage of ice at him until Izuku was down. He was still hurt, fire or no fire.

Shoto began to concentrate the ice in his right side and reached for the flame in his left…

He stopped dead and his eyes trailed down to his left arm as he tried to ignite himself again. Nothing. No response.

No flames.

His gaze lifted back to Izuku as he tried to process what was going on. As absurd and terrifying as it sounded…Izuku had just stolen his flames. Stolen all of them.

 _"_ _What did you just do?!"_ Shoto couldn't stop himself from screaming. He'd never felt like this before. The flames were _gone_. There was no residual warmth, just a complete absence of the fire he could always feel. It was terrifyingly eerie.

Izuku couldn't answer him.

 _The heat. Too much heat. Everything was too much. He couldn't breathe. His heart was hammering in his ears and he thought he could feel his blood literally boiling. Too much too much too much too much-_

 _He had to finish the fight_ _now_ -

Shoto froze as Izuku drew his hand back and perhaps instinctively, summoned up all five of the meteor-like fireballs around him to aim at his opponent. Realizing that this was going to be decided with a single move, Shoto began to glaciate his whole right side, not giving a _damn_ if he froze himself in place because that move was going to _destroy_ him if he didn't respond with everything he had. He heard Midnight yelling at them to stop, saw Cementoss forming up concrete barriers between the two of them out of the corner of his eye-

The flames vanished.

Shoto stopped charging the ice and stared as Izuku just slumped to the ground and collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Silence filled the entire stadium. The roaring, emerald flames sputtered out with a loud, sucking sound and disappeared as though they'd never existed at all.

Midnight barely got the words out of her mouth. "I-Izuku's down! Shoto is the winner!"

Shoto fell back on his rear hard, but he was too stunned to notice. He just stared as Midnight rushed over to the collapsed boy and frantically gestured for the medical robots to take him to Recovery Girl. He flinched as he felt the warmth in his left side return and he realized his flames were back.

What the _fuck_ had just happened?

* * *

All Might had bolted for the Nurse's office the moment Midnight had sent Izuku off for Recovery Girl. Something was wrong. Something was very, _very_ wrong. He'd thought for a moment that Eraser Head had actually cancelled Izuku's Quirk out, but the way he just slumped over had set off alarm bells in his head.

Eraser hadn't cut his Quirk off. Izuku's body had terminated the Quirk _itself_ as an emergency survival response.

Which meant his condition was dire.

All Might practically wrenched the door off its hinges as he got into the Nurse's Office and he was met with a sight that made his heart jump into his throat. Izuku was being carried by the medical robots because he'd melted through the litter they used to carry him and now he was making the steel itself melt and it was _burning his flesh with liquid metal-_

"All Might!" Recovery Girl practically roared, making him jump. "Get me the ice bath!"

All Might was already in his muscle form and rushed over to the bath in question, wrenched it out of the ground (foundation and all), and rushed it back over. Without even a second though about his own hands, All Might quickly grabbed Izuku, tore him from the robots, and dunked him into the ice bath.

Hot steam smote his face and vaporized most of the water in an instant, but it dropped his body temperature down past that critical point. All Might knew it wasn't enough and ran back to the ice bath's original room to grab more bags of ice, which he then tore open and dumped over Izuku's body. More steam, but the temperature was dropping.

He could see Izuku better now and realized with a shock of horror that the boy's eyes were still slightly open and fluttering randomly. _Jesus Christ,_ _was he having a_ _heat stroke?_

He flinched as Izuku suddenly started coughing and gasping, lucidity returning to his eyes. He jerked to the side for a moment as he tried to figure out where he was, then let out a cry of pain as he wrenched his broken arm the wrong way. Not only was it broken, but there were terrible burns along it from the liquified steel. It was a good thing his body was so heat resistant- otherwise, it would have probably melted to the bone. But it was still a really bad burn. His left arm looked utterly horrific, with three particularly jagged burn scars over his bicep, elbow, and forearm.

"Izuku!" All Might crouched and took his face between his hands (and _fuck_ , that still _burned_ , but he ignored it), forcing the teen to look at him. Izuku's eyes were still wild, but they had something to focus on now. "Look at me! It's okay! Breathe! Recovery Girl is working on it, but you have to breathe!"

Izuku was gaping like a fish, still too stunned to do anything. All Might just took a slow breath, trying to coax the boy to mimic him. "Breathe with me. In, out…in…out…that's it…"

The teen started to breathe more slowly, even though he was still in a lot of pain. Recovery Girl thrust an ice pack over his right arm for a few moments so the temperature could drop in that spot. She repeated the process four times (as Izuku kept heating the ice packs up with his excess body heat) before carefully inserting a needle into the vein, injecting a sedative, and removing it as quickly as possible. She placed a wet cloth over the insertion point and held it there until she could get an IV drip inserted.

Within minutes, Izuku's head lolled forward and he passed out from the sedative. All Might recognized that his temperature was low enough for him to be moved and carefully lifted the boy's limp form out of the ice bath and onto one of the beds.

Recovery Girl shook her head and began to get the IV set up. "There goes my hopes of not having to do a surgery today, but I don't think even I expected this to happen in my wildest dreams."

All Might stared at the boy, only jumping when Recovery Girl grabbed one of his hands and inspected it with a scowl. "You've gone and burned yourself, too. Grab a cold pack and wait until I'm done."

"Help him," All Might told her with a sigh as he took two of the packs from freezer. "He comes first."

"You don't have to tell me twice," she agreed. "Go outside and keep his friends from coming in. I'm going to be in here for a while."

All Might merely nodded and left the room, closing it behind him quietly. He glanced up at the sound of shoes running along concrete and glanced to his left just in time to see pretty much all of Class 1A bolt around the corner. He smiled at them.

"Recovery Girl's working on him," he said before they could voice any of the questions he could practically see bubbling out of them. "She's going to be a while."

Katsuki's fists were clenched. "What. Happened?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. He actually didn't know- he'd thought Izuku had a heat stroke, but it was possible it was something else. There were a lot of questions All Might had that he couldn't answer now. There was no need to tell them something that might frighten them more if he didn't have concrete evidence.

"All Might?" That was Ochako as she clasped her hands together in front of her. She swallowed hard, large brown eyes wide and nervous. "Is…is Izuku really…that Viper guy's…?"

She couldn't finish the sentence and All Might just sighed. "Yes."

To hear that coming from All Might had to be a shock to the class, (with the exception of Katsuki of course) but the Symbol of Peace immediately followed up his statement. "Izuku's never met him. He doesn't know Viper. I daresay he doesn't even know what he looks like."

"You seem pretty calm about all that," Mashirao scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I don't think Izuku's a bad guy, but I mean…you fought Viper, right? How are you so certain he's not like him? At least when Viper was his age?"

All Might was silent for a time. "I knew Viper for a long time. He was an enemy of mine from the time I was your age in U.A. Izuku and Viper's personalities couldn't be more different, believe me. The only thing they have in common is their Quirks. That's really it. If not for that, you'd have trouble convincing me they were related at all."

Silence fell over the group. Eventually, Eijirou broke it with a single question. "So what happens now?"

"Now," All Might began. "We leave Recovery Girl to do what she does best. Several of you still have fights coming up. You should prepare for those. We'll discuss this later when I know Izuku is stable, alright?"

Ochako bit her lip. "Um…I-I'm going to stay. If that's okay!"

"They're busy fixing the field right now since it got roasted," Katsuki muttered. "I'll stay until it's my turn to fight."

"I will, too," Mina agreed.

All Might nodded silently. "Very well, you can wait outside until Recovery Girl is finished. The rest of you, go back to your seats or to the lockers. I'll keep everyone updated. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to make a call."

He left the students then and walked around the corner before reaching for his phone. He winced as his burned hand brushed the fabric of his pants, but ignored as best he could for the time being as he dialed in a number and pressed the call button. It only rang twice before the person on the other end picked up.

"Inko, it's me."

* * *

 **A/N: What's that sound...ah, yes. The sound of all my readers screaming at me with endless questions and probably cursing me for making them wait for the next chapter. Ah, how I enjoy that lovely melody.**

 **Kidding, but in all honesty, I actually do have a "melody" of sorts I'd like to try sharing with you all. Now this is something new I might start doing if people like it, but I thought I'd give you guys some insight into how I write a particular scene! I'm thinking of calling it "Scene Spotlights" or something like that, but it's still just an idea. Let's give it a shot.**

 **So the scene in this case is the point where Izuku is on the verge of giving up in the chapter, then gets back up when Katsuki shouts at him and All Flare fully forms in front of the world. Now a lot of you may not know this, but I listen to a lot of instrumental music whenever I write for inspiration and to make it easier for me to picture a scene as it develops. In this case, the music I listened to is actually called "Blue Whale" by Steven Price. There's a video on You tube you guys can listen to as you read if you want to sort of follow how I pictured the scene with the music.**

 **From the part where Izuku is about to give up to the point where he uses All Flare is from about the three minute mark to the crescendo at three minutes and forty-five seconds, and then onto four minutes or so as he stands up. I really felt like that part of the music piece really fit the scene and that's what I shaped it around as I wrote it.**

 **Again, this is just experimental and I'm not trying to promote any videos or anything, just giving some insight into how I write. If I can't do this, I'll take it off, but I thought it might be an interesting insight for all of you.**

 **That's all for now- as ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	15. Heroes and Cowards

_Chapter Fifteen: Heroes and Cowards_

The nurse's office was quiet.

Following Recovery Girl's emergency surgery on Izuku, she deemed it okay for his friends to come in and stay with him. The teen in question was still unconscious, his skin a dark shade of red in several patches where Recovery Girl had yet to heal him. He didn't have the energy required for her accelerated healing to do anything more than repair some of the damage done to his left arm, which was wrapped up completely in bandages. It was going to take several doses of her Quirk to completely heal it.

Even then, he'd have scars.

Katsuki, Ochako, Mina, and Eijirou were all sitting around his bedside. The latter three were busy contemplating the shock of the fight they'd witnessed and the reality of Izuku being the son of a super villain. Katsuki was leaning his forehead against his hands, glaring down at the bandages covering Izuku's damaged left arm.

It took nearly half an hour to repair the field because most of it had been devastated by Izuku's flames. The reprieve was brief, but it gave Recovery Girl enough time to complete the surgery before the matches began again.

The fights had gone by pretty quick for the rest of the quarter-finals. Mina had been defeated by Fumikage and Eijirou lost to Katsuki. They were all a little banged up, so they had to go to Recovery Girl's office anyways and stuck around with Izuku after that. Ochako hadn't left ever since they were allowed to go inside.

Before long, there were only four students left in the tournament; Tenya, Shoto, Katsuki, and Fumikage.

Mina glanced at the clock. "It should be almost time for your fight, right Katsuki?"

Katsuki only grunted and didn't actually say anything. Tenya was currently fighting Shoto and he'd be battling Fumikage shortly after.

The four students paused at the sound of the door opening and turned to spot All Might coming back in- with Inko, Eri, and Katsuki's parents right behind him. Inko and Eri instantly locked onto Izuku and rushed over.

"Izuku!" Inko cried at the sight of her child in his current state. All Might had told her in detail that Izuku had been hurt and needed treatment from Recovery Girl, but it was still a shock to see him like this.

Eri found the easiest way to get close to Izuku was to scramble into Katsuki's lap, which the explosive teen surprisingly allowed without even a word. "Izu!"

"Shh," Recovery Girl walked over, as patient as ever, and smiled softly. "He's just asleep. He needs rest."

Eri looked from Recovery Girl to Katsuki, her eyes big and tearful and her bottom lip wobbling. "H-he's okay?"

Katsuki's face was neutral as he lifted a hand to pat her head. "He'll be fine, squirt."

Over the intercom, they heard Present Mic's voice proclaim the winner of the current fight. "And Shoto defeats Tenya in a close match! Next up is Fumikage versus Katsuki! Will the competitors come to the field, please!"

Katsuki briefly lifted Eri up so he could stand and then plopped her back into his chair (which hardly mattered since she half-leaned out of the chair to get as close to Izuku as she could, anyways). He turned for the door and started to stalk off. "I'm off."

"Katsuki."

He stopped for a moment at his mother's voice and glanced at her and his father over his shoulder. Both of them were watching him with seemingly steady expressions, but Inko could tell how concerned they really were for their son. Katsuki had never taken bad things that happened to Izuku very well. Not once. Not ever.

No doubt he was boiling on the inside and ready to burst loose.

"Don't do anything too rash," Mitsuki told him. "I understand what's going through your head right now, but don't let it control your actions. None of us could have known this was going to happen."

"That doesn't make it any more okay," Katsuki retorted, looking away from them. "But yeah, whatever. I won't completely turn icy-hot into a bloodstain."

"Katsuki," Masaru spoke up, his voice taking a rare, firm tone. "Please don't. You can't hold that Shoto boy responsible for what happened during the fight. Not even Izuku knew his Quirk could do something like this. I'm sure he's in just as much shock as the rest of us."

"Him and his damn old man started it," the explosive teen growled, clenching his hand. "I don't give a shit about what their problems are. They shouldn't have messed with him. Now I'm gonna show them why."

He threw the door opened and slammed it behind him, stalking out and leaving the nurse's office. Katsuki was about to make for the field when he realized that Kyoka was standing outside the office. She jumped as Katsuki suddenly left the room and spotted her, his eyes casting an annoyed glare in her direction.

"The fuck do you want? Didn't you run off with the rest of the scrubs?"

Kyoka glared back at him defensively. "I was just coming by to see how Izuku and the rest of you were doing, chill."

"Yeah? Then pop inside, I don't need your concern," he snapped.

Kyoka looked after him for a moment. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Ah?"

"Why is this so important to you? Izuku, I mean," she asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Fuck off."

"You called his name."

Katsuki stopped in his tracks. Kyoka looked at the floor, tapping her earphone jacks against each other. "I've never heard you call anyone by their real name before. You've always got some stupid insult or dumb nickname for everyone. So…why is Izuku so special to you? Why do _you_ care so much?"

"That's a stupid question," Katsuki retorted. "Figure it out yourself."

Kyoka rolled her eyes at the response (however expected it was) and muttered loudly. "Ass."

"I heard that!"

"I know!"

Katsuki stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked off for his fight, ignoring the sound of Kyoka entering the nurse's office behind him. He had to focus- Fumikage was pretty strong, but Katsuki knew he could handle it. And once he'd beaten the blackbird down.

Icy-hot was going to get what was coming to him.

* * *

In a dark building far, far away from the U.A Sports Festival, a heavy silence hung in the air. Tomura was never one for extended silences like this, but he found it disturbing how his teacher had yet to say a word since Izuku Midoriya's fight ended. The doctor had also been quiet, studying his main patient with an expressionless face.

At last, he spoke.

"So it hasn't adapted to him properly…"

"It's too early to be certain of that," the doctor replied. "He's still growing. This may just be a phase for him. But…I must admit, a reaction so violent might have been expected. Given how All Flare was originally birthed, it shouldn't come as a surprise to us that it has some…problems."

"We did not anticipate that Viper would have children in the first place," teacher said. "This was never something we expected to happen. We were unprepared."

Unexpectedly, the masked man began to chuckle quietly. Tomura raised an eyebrow, but the doctor seemed to smirk slightly.

"How fascinating," teacher uttered. "To be caught off-guard like this is unlike me. But perhaps this is a happy accident…"

The man turned his head slightly towards Tomura. "The League of Villains should take time to build up their forces. Your next goal is to capture Izuku Midoriya and bring him to me."

Tomura nodded. "You'll tame him for me?"

"In time," teacher assured him. "You must give him time to mature, Tomura. In time, he'll come to us of his own accord, just like his father did. Be patient, and his power will be yours…and stronger than ever."

* * *

"Katsuki has defeated Fumikage!" Present Mic exclaimed. "That means the final battle will be between Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo! We'll take a quick fifteen minute break and then dive right in! Look forward to it!"

Shoto turned away from the field and walked back inside the colosseum to make for the lockers. He hadn't been able to focus at all since his fight against Izuku- he'd barely managed to avoid being defeated by Tenya as it was.

He clenched his left hand again, reassured by the warmth that had once more taken residence there. It had felt so strange, so alien to have that heat torn from him, even if he despised using it. Now that he wasn't in shock about losing it anymore, he had had time to think about what happened.

Izuku had stolen his fire. All of it. Whether he had stolen the maximum amount of flame Shoto could produce at any one time or actually stolen the fire aspect of his Quirk altogether he didn't know, but it had been a terrifying feeling. And yet…he couldn't fathom what had followed.

There was no doubt at this point that Izuku was Heat Viper's offspring, and yet he wasn't able to wield the same power as his parent. As a general rule of Quirks, they tended to become stronger as they were passed on from parent to child. Of course, not all Quirks necessarily got "stronger" so much as change to become more favorable to the offspring in question, but powerful Quirks especially tended to product powerful offspring.

Shoto, as much as he despised the idea of it, was a perfect example of that theory.

So why wasn't Izuku able to wield the same kind of power as Heat Viper had? Was his Quirk really that different from his father's? Or was it something else? A birth defect, perhaps?

It didn't make sense.

He stopped in his tracks as he became aware of a figure further down the hall by the locker room. Shoto stopped and stared flatly at his parent.

Endeavor watched him closely. "Your Quirk. It's back?"

"…seems so," Shoto replied, clenching his left fist again. "You knew."

"Knew what?"

"That he could transmute my fire. That he could steal it. That he was Heat Viper's son."

"…I knew only that he was Viper's son and that he could transmute flame," Endeavor said at last, a deep frown on his face. "His ability to steal your Quirk was something I did not know of. Heat Viper was _never_ able to steal Quirks, however temporarily it might have been."

Shoto realized he was right. Out of all the footage he'd seen of Viper's rampage against Endeavor and All Might, he never once recalled the villain robbing Endeavor of his power. Had he been able to do that…

"So Izuku's Quirk is actually superior to Viper's?"

"If he isn't trained, it won't be," Endeavor growled. "He's all the more dangerous if he can steal fire Quirks at his whim. He shouldn't be at U.A at all. I'll have to have words with the headmaster after this…fiasco."

Shoto's eyes hardened. "Haven't you interfered enough as it is?"

Endeavor's gaze trailed to him and narrowed dangerously. "Excuse me?"

"I never learned the details of what happened," Shoto said. "But as I recall, the whole reason Viper went into a frenzy back then was because you provoked him. Now you're trying to make sure his son never becomes a hero? Even All Might has his eyes on him. Wouldn't it be better to let him become a hero and fight villains instead of ostracizing him?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Endeavor snarled. "You weren't there. You aren't aware of what that…thing was capable of."

"I have an idea. But that's besides the point. I'll make my own decision about whether Izuku is like Heat Viper or not. Until that time, you keep your nose out of my class. It's got nothing to do with you."

"You talk big, but you can barely control your own flames as it is. You should have continued your training under me, then you would have really defeated that creature."

Shoto opened the door to the locker room, looking away from his father. "You know, it's strange. During that last moment, when Izuku and I were about to attack one another with everything we had…I forgot about you. You and Viper, both. It didn't matter at that point. Maybe that's the way it should be. Maybe we just need to forget about both of you to get stronger instead of live in your shadows forever."

And Shoto closed that door, leaving Endeavor in silent disbelief. He waited in the locker room in silence until it was finally time for his last fight, contemplating what had happened and what would follow.

* * *

 **"** **ARE YOU READY?!"**

The crowd cheered, pumped up for the final match. There had been some really good fights, but now all eyes were on the two boys walking onto the field for the final match. Mic was doing his best to hype it up at the cost of Aizawa's eardrums.

 **"** **The finals are here! The biggest, baddest battle yet! From the hero course, the calm and collected prodigy! Shoto Todoroki!"**

Shoto stepped onto the field and watched as his opponent climbed the stairs as well, blinking at the other teenager with some surprise.

 **"** **Also from the hero course, the explosive man who knows no mercy! Katsuki Bakugo!"**

Aizawa raised an eyebrow as he studied Katsuki, who stopped on the field and just stood there, his hands shoved into his pockets and a steady expression on his face. He'd expected the teen to be ready to go for Shoto's throat given how his last three fights had gone. Katsuki had always been cautious in his battles, but he didn't look aggressive…at all.

No explosions popping off in his palms. No scowl. No glare. Well, he was staring at Shoto with uncomfortable intensity, but he wasn't giving him the evil eye, so to speak.

Aizawa wasn't sure what to make of it. _Katsuki's behavior is usually pretty straightforward. Given his personality, I expected him to be ready to rage and cut loose against Shoto even more so than the others because of what went down with Izuku. So…where'd this change of his come from?_

 _He's too quiet,_ Shoto thought as he studied Katsuki closely. He wasn't seeing any of the explosive personality he was used to. Shoto had expected Katsuki to go feral at the very sight of him, so what was this about?

The normally-explosive teen suddenly closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. _Focus. Remember what Deku always says when we're gaming…Can't get too distracted just 'cause I'm pissed as hell. Icy-hot's strong, no matter how much I hate admitting it._

 _But…he's easy to unhinge._

 **"** **Match…"**

Shoto shifted his right side to aim at the teenager ahead of him. _I'll end this in one go._

Katsuki opened his eyes steadily. _You've already lost._

 **"** **START!"**

A glacial blast exploded from Shoto's side of the field, erupting over the ground in the blink of an eye. Katsuki was practically buried beneath the ice, leaving the stadium in utter silence.

 **"** **There's that huge move from before!"** Mic exclaimed. **"Shoto's covered the field in an instant! Is it already over?!"**

Midnight studied the ice closely, but realized after a few seconds that its intended prisoner was in fact very much free to do as he pleased. Deep booms rippled through the air as Katsuki blew his way out of the ice slowly, but surely.

He finally burst free of the icy prison and dusted himself off, still watching Shoto with that eerie quiet. Shoto narrowed his eyes and created some more ice. Not gonna be that easy, huh?

As he prepared to unleash another burst of ice, Katsuki suddenly blitzed towards him with a flurry of explosions from his palms, getting on top of Shoto before the teen could react. His hands flew out and grabbed Shoto by his hair and shirt, then flipped forward to throw him towards the edge of the field.

Shoto created an icy wave and flowed on it away from the edge, creating a half-circle of ice around Katsuki, who merely watched him. Shoto aimed his right hand at the other boy and unleashed another blast of ice, this one smaller than before, and Katsuki simply blew it away with a well-timed explosion. Still riding the ice wave, Shoto launched attacks in a circle, trying to catch his opponent off, but Katsuki was alert and easily blocked him.

The wave of ice now completely encircled Katsuki, but he looked undeterred and watched as Shoto rode around him. As his opponent came around for another pass, Katsuki lunged for the ice in front of him and leapt up, then spun with an explosion to blow a hole through the wall.

Shoto raised his arms to block the chunks of ice that got thrown his way, but his eyes widened as he felt Katsuki grab his ankle.

A blast bigger than any thus far in the battle ripped through the stadium and sent Shoto flying into the ice wall on the opposite side of the ring. The teen was stunned for a few moments as Katsuki remained concealed by the cloud of smoke he'd generated.

Shoto winced as he tried standing up. Katsuki's explosion had seriously hurt his right ankle to the point that it was hard putting weight on it. He tried standing again and instantly regretted it, kneeling to clutch the injury. _Fuck, that hurts! Is it broken?_

Unfortunately, he didn't have any more time to address it since Katsuki lunged out of the smoke cloud with a burst of explosions from his hands, propelling him forward.

He tried launching another wave of ice at the charging teenager, but Katsuki used another explosion to shift his trajectory and flipped to the side. Before Shoto could change the direction of his ice, he'd touched back down and closed the distance.

Shoto's head jerked back violently as Katsuki drove a vicious kick into his chin, then proceeded to grab him by his left arm and yank him back. The breath left Shoto's lungs as he got the full force of Katsuki's knee crashing into his sternum.

He slumped to his hands and knees and shot another burst of ice at Katsuki, but the teen merely stepped to the right and easily avoided it. His wounded ankle was making it hard for him to twist his body and aim his attacks.

"You ain't gonna win without using your left side, dumbass," Katsuki muttered as he crouched in front of Shoto.

"Shut your mouth," Shoto growled. "That's none of your business."

"That so?" Katsuki reached up and harshly pat Shoto's left cheek once. Twice.

The second pat exploded. It wasn't terribly powerful by Katsuki's standards, but it was like getting punched in the face for Shoto. He was knocked over onto his side and struggled to get back up, but his crippled ankle made it difficult to maneuver.

"Oh right, I can't burn that side of your face any more than it already is," Katsuki sneered as he stood up and grabbed Shoto's left arm, hauling him up only to viciously slam his elbow into the other teen's throat. Shoto wheezed for breath, stunned by the shock of it.

"The rest of our class didn't pull any of their punches in this tournament and you think you can just win with half of your power?" Katsuki mocked, turning and dragging Shoto towards the massive piece of ice he'd created at the beginning of the fight. "You're such a little bitch."

"Fuck you," Shoto gasped, but was unable to stand on his injured leg and regain his balance. "You've got no right telling me that…I'm not obligated to use that guy's Quirk if I don't want to!"

"Guess you'll never be a hero, then."

Shoto froze as Katsuki went on. "Deku was scared as all hell of his Quirk the whole tournament and you know what? He still used it. You _never_ beat him. He self-destructed- you never won. The only reason you decided to use your left side in that fight was to get back at your shitty old man, anyway. Even that is such a bullshit excuse it makes me want to throw up. So go on and keep using only half of your Quirk."

"You're just a coward. And cowards don't get to stand at the top." He heaved Shoto over his shoulder and aimed to throw him at the mass of ice in front of them. Katsuki snarled as he threw the teenager with an explosion to propel him into the air further.

 _"_ _You lose."_

Shoto could only stare as Katsuki aimed his right arm towards him and the mass of ice and unleashed the same, behemoth explosion he'd used to counter Ochako's meteors earlier that day.

Only Cementoss frantically throwing up concrete barriers between them prevented Shoto from getting hit by the full force of the blast, but as it was, the shockwave sent him flying out of the arena. He crashed into the ice near the walls and lay there, stunned by the impact.

 **"** **WHOA! In one big move, Katsuki blows Shoto away! It's been decided! The winner is Katsuki Bakugo!"**

Present Mic's announcement had the crowds cheering, but it was a little quieter given how especially ruthless Katsuki had been in this fight. Aizawa was starting to get wary about the possibility that his student was a little more…unstable than he'd originally guessed. He'd have to bring that up with him soon.

Katsuki snorted in satisfaction at the sight of Shoto sprawled in the ruins of his own ice before turning away and stalking out of the arena. As soon as he was out of sight, he gripped his right arm to stop the shaking.

With a grimace, he leaned against the wall and took a moment to massage the pain out. _Well, shit…that's the last time I'll be using Explosion for a couple of days. I pushed both of my arms to their limit against round-face and icy-hot. Better go see Recovery Girl about that, I guess._

He glanced back towards the battlefield and admired the wreckage from afar, letting a vicious, lopsided grin return to his face now that he didn't need to concentrate so hard.

 _It was worth it. I don't give a damn about the award ceremony, or whatever. Kicking your ass into the dirt was the best prize I could've gotten, icy hot. Well…I guess the best prize would've been fighting Deku in the finals no-holds barred, but whatever. All of the lame onlookers probably would've shit their pants if they saw that. Heh._

* * *

Everything felt soft and warm around him, Izuku thought to himself as he slowly woke up. He couldn't really remember when he'd fallen asleep…maybe he was dozing in and out of consciousness all morning? He was a pretty light sleeper most of the time.

He shifted slightly and opened his eyes, squinting against the lights overhead. He blinked when he heard a little gasp. "Deku! Recovery Girl, he's awake!"

"Ask if he's in any pain, I've got a more pressing patient right now," was the reply.

"I'm gonna go tell the others he's awake!" That sounded like Mina.

Izuku twisted his head to the left and his eyes widened upon seeing both Eri and Ochako sitting beside him. Eri looked ready to bawl her eyes out and Ochako just looked relieved.

"Izu!" Eri jumped out of her chair and hugged him tightly, squeezing with all the force she could muster. Mind you, it wasn't much, but his body felt kind of tender for some reason and Izuku had to try and not wince.

"Hey, Eri," Izuku mumbled back sleepily as he wrapped his right arm around her and squeezed back. "What are you doing here?"

"We'll talk about that later," Izuku turned to his left and realized his mother was standing on his other side. Like Eri, she looked ready to cry. "Does anything hurt?"

"I mean…I feel pretty weak, but nothing hurts," he replied, trying to sit up with Eri still hugging him. That didn't go well and Eijirou- whom he only noticed as the other boy set his hand on Izuku's shoulder- gently pushed him back down.

The red-head smiled at him. "Easy dude, you got pretty messed up in that fight."

"Fight…?" Izuku frowned as he tried to recall what Eijirou was talking about. "What…?"

It all came back to him in a rush and Izuku froze, sucking in a sharp breath. That was right. The fight against Shoto. Oh. _Oh_.

"Honey?" Inko regained her son's attention with a gentle touch. "It's okay. It'll be okay."

Would it be? He wasn't sure, but he was also too tired to think about it right now.

"Hey, Deku?" Ochako shifted in her seat somewhat. "Um…I'm not sure if you were wondering or not, but…if you're wondering where Tenya is, he had to leave the tournament after his fight. His older brother was hurt by a villain and got sent to the hospital. It's not like he didn't want to wait for you to wake up, you know?"

Tenya's older brother? The hero Ingenium? Izuku was stunned by the knowledge, but he also appreciated Ochako telling him that Tenya hadn't left because he didn't want to be around Izuku. At least Tenya wasn't…totally scared of him and his Quirk. He let his head fall back into the pillow with a sigh. "Thanks, Ochako. I'll call him later."

Recovery Girl walked over then and shuffled by Ochako and Eri so she could inspect her patient. "Well, that's one down…now, let's see how you're doing. How's the arm?"

"My arm?" Izuku frowned and glanced at his right. It looked fine to him. He looked at his left and- ah.

His left arm was a mess. The hand looked a little crooked and he had three, jagged burn scars cutting across his bicep, elbow, and forearm.

"I had to do surgery to prevent any permanent nerve damage," Recovery Girl told him. "But you didn't have the energy for me to heal you in one go. I'll be able to repair it a little more over the next week, but you really exhausted your body's energy reserves in that fight. The scars and that crooked hand will remain, no matter how much I try to fix them. Consider that a warning to you to not push your physical limits so far again."

Izuku stared at his damaged arm for a few moments and sighed. That was the consequence of overusing One for All and All Flare the way he had, he supposed. Speaking of which-

"Oh!" Izuku suddenly exclaimed, his eyes going wide with fright. "Shoto! What happened to his Quirk?! I-I don't remember what happened exactly, but I took his flames and-"

"Quiet down!" Recovery Girl bopped the top of his head with her cane. "You're liable to weaken your body further with unneeded panic like that. Shoto's fine. His Quirk returned to him as soon as you collapsed."

Izuku slumped back with a groan of relief. "Okay…"

"Honestly, getting worried like that when you're as wrecked as you are…" Recovery Girl shook her head in exasperation. "You're more like All Might than I gave you credit for."

That brought a smile to his lips, unbidden, and the only woman smirked. "Well, I was going to do this while you were asleep, but even if you're awake, I still need a blood sample."

Inko blinked in confusion. "A blood sample? What for?"

"Something happened to his Quirk in that fight and I'm not sure what," Recovery Girl explained. "He self-destructed and his body shut it down forcibly- that doesn't happen normally. I'm concerned that there might be a defect of sorts and if there is, I need to know so I can find out if it's treatable. I'd rather catch and address it now instead of watch his Quirk destroy him again."

Izuku nodded. "I'm okay with it."

Eri shivered next to him. Izuku blinked at her curiously for a moment before he realized why and smiled at her gently. "Eri, how about you get your blood drawn with me?"

"H-huh?" She stared at him in surprise. "Wh-why?"

"Well…I know it might seem a little scary, but it really doesn't hurt if Recovery Girl does it," he explained. "Besides, people get their blood drawn all the time. They donate it to help people who are sick."

Eri bit her lip. Izuku knew she was scared of needles, but he also thought that he might be able to help her with it by doing this. Not to mention Tsukauchi still needed a blood sample from Eri to find her real parents. There was no rush if she wasn't ready for it, but still…he felt obligated to try for Eri's sake.

She finally nodded slowly, eyes wide in fright. Izuku hugged her firmly to him and murmured softly. "It's okay, you won't even feel it. Right?"

Recovery Girl smiled at the little girl and nodded. "Not even a little bit. I've done this to a lot of people, Eri. I haven't gotten any complaints yet."

"O-okay…"

The old woman waved her cane slightly at the people surrounding the bed. "All of you give me some space. I only get one chance to make sure Eri has a good experience with this and I will not let a crowd ruin it. In fact, go take a look at Shoto and see how he's doing."

Ochako backed up with a slight smile. "Yes, ma'am."

"Shoto?" Izuku asked with a frown. "He's here, too? Was he injured?"

"If you consider a broken ankle, bruises and burns all over, and a busted lip injuries, then yes," Recovery Girl said somewhat sarcastically. "He's fine now. Katsuki put him through the wringer, but he'll recover quickly."

"Katsuki did that?"

Eijirou shivered a little. "It was hard to watch, dude. I've never seen Katsuki like that. He didn't yell or scream or rage…he just beat Shoto to a pulp. It was kind of scary."

Izuku blinked in confusion. Was he hearing that right? Katsuki _hadn't_ raged against Shoto? That was…unlike him.

He lay back and sighed as Recovery Girl prepared two vials for his and Eri's blood sample. Izuku had a feeling the day wasn't done with them yet, but…he was too tired to worry further for now.

* * *

 **A/N: A little shorter than the last chapter, but this was just to finish up the Sports Festival Arc. The next arc will, of course, be Stain! Look forward to it!** **Also, to my Challenger readers wondering about the next chapter, expect it to be posted probably tomorrow and definitely by Sunday! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	16. False Tranquility

_Chapter Sixteen: False Tranquility_

 _"…_ _here to fill you in on a report regarding the injury of the well-known hero Ingenium earlier today,"_ said the reporter on TV. _"This is the first information we've had of Ingenium since the event. Ingenium is a rising star in the hero community, noted for being one of the brightest and most talented of his generation with a shining career and much to look forward to. However, after the events of today, the continuation of his career is being brought into question."_

 _"_ _It is reported that Ingenium was brutally attacked by a villain in Hosu City and critically wounded. He underwent two separate surgeries to address severe lacerations and a spinal injury. As of now, we are told that he has been stabilized, but there is no telling if his injuries will prevent him from continuing his hero career at the current time."_

 _"_ _The villain in question who attack Ingenium escaped before officials arrived on the scene, but it is highly suspected that the attacker was the so-called "Hero Killer" Stain. Stain has been active in several cities and has continued to escape capture over the past several months. He is responsible for the deaths of seventeen heroes and the critical injuries of twenty-three more with his latest attack on Ingenium."_

 _"_ _Although efforts to find and capture Stain have risen drastically with the level of damage he's caused to the hero community, the attack on Ingenium prompted an immediate response from the Number Two Hero Endeavor, who made a statement that he was asked to join the investigation and that the issue with Stain would be resolved shortly. Although Endeavor's inclusion does little to help those families who already lost loved ones to this villain's rampage, the hope exists that his participation in the investigation might stop these attacks once and for all."_

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the television, sinking further into the couch as he jostled the remote in his hands. "Hero Killer Stain? That's the guy who got Sonic's older brother?"

He was actually kind of amazed this ridiculous stream of violence had gone on as long as it had. Sure, Ingenium was the first "high profile" hero Stain had attacked, but the guy had murdered and crippled forty separate heroes. Like…really? Endeavor was asked to join the investigation now? After forty, FORTY heroes had been attacked?

 _For fuck's sake,_ Katsuki rolled his eyes. The idiocy was appalling.

 _"_ _Thank you Mandy,"_ said another reporter as they transitioned back to the main news stream. _"In other news, all eyes were on the U.A Sports Festival today as the First Years made their premier debut to the world, but the world got quite a surprise. Amongst U.A's new golden eggs was a boy that, while seemingly talented and brilliant at first, revealed a Quirk that has many people reeling in shock."_

An image was brought up and Katsuki scowled.

Of course it was Izuku, and _of course_ it was a photo that completely gave the wrong impression. The photo was from the moment he'd taken Shoto's fire and was more or less surrounded by that huge inferno, at such an angle and distance that you couldn't see his face, but could see his eyes reflecting the fire's light with an eerie, green glow. With nothing else of his body to see besides a slight shadow and the fire, it looked like some kind of demon was glaring Shoto down.

How in the _seven fucks_ did these reporters manage to take _just_ the right kind of photo to make it look like Izuku was ready to murder someone when he'd been losing his fucking mind in terror at that precise moment?

 _"_ _What began as a mere suspicion has turned into a social media frenzy over the course of just a few hours,"_ the reporter went on. _"The student in question, Izuku Midoriya, seems to possess a Quirk similar or identical to the Quirk by the notorious villain Heat Viper. The revelation of his Quirk even prompted a security check at Viper's current prison to ensure he hadn't escaped somehow. Now, this could be a coincidence, but we would much rather get some facts first, so we asked a Quirk specialist with thirty years experience to join us today. What can you tell us from these images and the video evidence?"_

Katsuki ignored the doctor's name and glared as another man appeared on a separate screen to answer the reporter's questions. _"Well this is a shock, for sure. I myself wasn't convinced until I saw the video footage several times, but I can say with perhaps 98% certainty that Izuku Midoriya's Quirk is definitely related extremely closely to Heat Viper's."_

 _"Explain, how can you know for certain?"_ Asked the reporter.

 _"_ _Well, in most cases, an individual would have to undergo blood testing in order to determine a genetic link, but Viper has a very unique Quirk,"_ the doctor explained. _"There's nothing like it. There's never been anything like it. The most plausible theory right now as to how his Quirk came to be is some kind of genetic mutation. Now, the odds of that occurring are incredibly rare already, but for another individual to undergo a near-identical genetic mutation is literally impossible. There are so many different ways for genes and Quirks to mutate, the number is well into the trillions or even beyond that. Either Izuku Midoriya is extremely unlucky or, more plausible, he is a genetic relative of Heat Viper, and in such a case, he could only be his son."_

 _"_ _There's no way he could be a brother or a cousin?"_

 _"_ _No, genetic mutations occur randomly, they're not set in stone in family lines. Quirks do tend to progress and evolve further based on the genetic transition of parent to child, but mutations to the degree of Viper's are extremely rare. Now it's technically plausible that if a parent had some type of genetic disease, perhaps that could cause their children's Quirks to mutate somehow, but those would be minor at best and there's a very low chance that those Quirks would be nearly identical. The only way a genetic mutation in individuals can be that similar is if it's a hereditary trait. And also, Viper's parents are unknown, they're presumed to have died, so he's got no known siblings and certainly none as young as Izuku Midoriya. There's literally no other explanation besides him being Viper's son."_

 _"_ _Do you think Izuku Midoriya should be allowed at U.A given his heritage?"_ The reporter prompted.

 _"_ _I don't feel comfortable answering that, but I can say that Viper spent one year at U.A before dropping out, so…I mean, Izuku Midoriya is definitely a case that needs to be investigated thoroughly before he should be allowed to learn from the top heroes in the world. Viper caused such a degree of destruction before All Might subjugated him, so one might even suggest All Might could have been hired into U.A to make sure that his son can't cause the same tragedy he did."_

"Oh, _fuck_ _off,"_ Katsuki snarled, throwing up a perfect middle finger at the tv before switching it off with the remote. He let his head fall back onto the couch, now in a truly foul mood despite how tired he was.

"You didn't have to turn it off."

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder and spotted Izuku in the kitchen, though his back was turned away from the television. The explosive teen merely slouched against the couch some more. "I don't give a damn about useless fucks complaining about shit that isn't relevant to them."

"You still shouldn't try to silence them," Izuku replied quietly. "Their opinions matter, you know. They're scared, Katsuki."

"Them shitting their pants doesn't give them the right to say that stuff about you," Katsuki muttered, keeping his voice down because of the time and place. After all, Inko had gone to bed and Eri was asleep on the couch beside him, having dozed off at some point.

They'd come straight home from the Sports Festival as soon as the award ceremony was over and it had been wordlessly decided that Katsuki was spending the night. The explosive teen had watched Izuku act for the last few hours that everything was okay- like he was pretending that none of the day's events had gone down in the first place. His smile so often had been terribly fake and plain, with none of the lopsided awkwardness Izuku normally possessed.

He hadn't been able to look anyone in the eye. He'd kept interactions with his class to a minimum (with the exception of Katsuki, of course) after Recovery Girl finished drawing his and Eri's blood, desiring to get away from them as soon as possible without being outright rude.

Katsuki wanted to smack the other boy for being foolish- it was obvious that at least Ochako, Mina, Eijirou, Tenya, and probably Kyoka didn't give a damn, but Izuku had worked it into his head that he might have been making them uncomfortable. He was acting like he thought they might turn around at any moment and say they didn't want to be friends anymore.

Idiot. The only thing saving Izuku from getting cuffed upside the head was Katsuki's knowledge that the boy was actually really scared. He was doing a terrible job of hiding it so no one would worry and Katsuki was unwilling to put him through more crap today because of it. He'd been through enough- was still going through some of it.

"You feel your Quirk coming back?" He asked.

Izuku shook his head, tucking his arms close to his body despite the hoodie he wore to keep him warm. "Nothing. It took a few days last time, so…I probably won't get it back until for two or there more days. Monday, maybe?"

"So no training for you," Katsuki muttered, standing up and stretching his arms over his head. He groaned as his arms popped and his spine cracked pleasantly. "Fine, then let's do something else."

"Katsuki, it's almost midnight."

"So? That new Champion dropped the other night."

"What?" Izuku turned around and blinked at the other teen, who was walking to the kitchen table where his laptop was waiting. "Wait, Kai'sa?"

"No, the Ryze rework," Katsuki snarked. "Yes, Kai'sa. I know you wanted to try her out, right? Let's hop into a normal game and see what she's about."

Izuku's eyes lit up excitedly. Clearly, he hadn't expected the new Champion of their favorite game to be released so soon. Katsuki knew Izuku had been looking forward to playing this particular Champion a lot and a few games of League would probably get his head out of the dumps.

Also, he wanted to play Kled a little and murder the fuck out of every single poor-ass player on the enemy team.

That would put him in a better mood- playing a crazy, redneck yordle who was constantly drunk and hallucinating on mushroom juice and riding an immortal retarded lizard who Katsuki constantly screamed at for being a little bitch and running off when he got low on health, and then proceed to beat the shit out of his enemy until Skarl came back to him.

Honestly, whoever thought of Kled was an insane genius in Katsuki's opinion.

But so help him, if someone banned the maniacal yordle from their game, he was slapping on his Dunkmaster Darius skin and Pentakilling the entire enemy team. Repeatedly.

They needed to practice their main roles in League for their upcoming tournament, but there was no harm in taking a night off to have some fun and play the new Champion. Katsuki and Izuku usually played in a duo, swapping between the ADC and Support role. Katsuki preferred top lane if they couldn't get the duo bot lane and Izuku would go mid. Generally, if Katsuki got top lane, Izuku would jungle and if Izuku got mid, Katsuki would jungle. Whatever the case was, they were often working with each other to get ahead in whichever situation they ended up in.

The new Champion, Kai'sa, looked like a Champion Izuku would prefer for his ADC games, so it was important to see how she felt with his play style and to sort out what item and rune paths he could take for her. If he got enough practice in, he might even play her in the tournament as a wild card, but it was kind of doubtful given how little time they'd have to practice her- both of them were a high Platinum rating, slowly rising into Diamond tier as the new season went along. It was difficult to play a new Champion against players with that experience level because they'd be playing Champions they simply had more experience with. In terms of mechanics and game knowledge with their Champions, they'd simply have an advantage.

But she could be played in a later tournament if Izuku decided her kit was for him.

They threw themselves into the game and after getting the hang of Kai'sa's general mechanics in a bot game, moved to play against actual people. Katsuki got his top lane and Izuku, somehow, scored Kai'sa in the bot lane.

That particular game lasted over thirty minutes before they finally made a Baron play, killed the giant purple worm, and ran their asses down mid, murdering everyone while Kled screamed about mushroom juice and Izuku shot them at range, repositioning with Kai'sa's darting ultimate to basically 2v5 ace the entire enemy team. They each got multikills and the game was ended in that same push.

Katsuki cackled evilly at the damage graph. "Top damage bitches, top damage!"

"Good job," Izuku complimented, studying his after-game stats. "…my farming kind of sucked, but she feels really smooth. I think I could definitely carry with her after some more practice."

"That was such a gross combo at the end with that ace," Katsuki snickered. "I almost feel kind of bad for them. Almost."

Izuku decided one game would be enough for the night- it was nearly one a.m, after all. He went back to the home page, where Kai'sa's splash art was on display and studied it for a while in silence. Katsuki noticed this and glanced at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What? You've got that hero-nerd look on your face," Katsuki asked.

Izuku shook his head. "I was just thinking that Kai'sa's bodysuit vaguely reminds me of Ochako's hero costume. I mean, minus the guns and missile silos on her shoulders, obviously, and its a bit more sleek, but it's got that same futuristic look to it when you put the helmet on…I think that might be something to ask about. Like, Ochako's costume right now kind of stands out, but if we have to do an infiltration mission for class, it might be a good idea to get a really dark bodysuit like that. Heroes do sometimes have multiple costumes to adjust to circumstances, after all. Ochako's costume has whites and pinks in addition to the black suit, and that's a great design for patrolling on the streets during the day, but it might be a good idea to ask about making another one for stealth stuff…Actually, we could use something like that too- you and I kind of stand out, so maybe we should ask Mr. Aizawa if we can try developing secondary suits…"

Katsuki listened like he always did to Izuku's muttering- attentively, but also knowing when the information dump was no longer viable for him. But he found himself tilting his head curiously as Izuku continued to describe the idea of a stealth outfit. Not because the idea really appealed to him, (well, it did, but that wasn't the point) but because of his…choice of a model.

Several members of their class had those skin-tight bodysuits; Tsuyu, Mina, and even Rikido, to name a few. In fact, those three might actually be more ideal models for infiltration missions because of their Quirks, especially Tsuyu. Why specifically envision Ochako with a suit like that?

An idea popped into his head and, Katsuki being who he was, grinned evilly at an opportunity to poke fun at his best friend.

"Hey, Deku," Katsuki's grin became lopsided and mocking. When Izuku glanced at him, unsuspecting, he pulled the pin on the figurative grenade. "Are you _crushing_ on Round-face?"

All of three seconds passed before Izuku's face exploded into red and Katsuki immediately jabbed a finger at him and began to laugh, cackling at the sight.

"WHAT?!" Izuku shrieked, holding up his hands and waving them madly as steam began to pour from his head. "Nonononono! Th-that's not it at all! I-I-I was j-just thinking that it might be- be helpful and-"

"Bullshit!" Katsuki gasped out, still laughing far too much at his friend's expense. "Bullshit, I say! Look, your Quirk even came back just because I said it! You're fucking crushing on Round-face, oh my god!"

Izuku tried to sink into the chair, covering his blazing face and trying to ignore the steam rising from his ears. It actually felt like his Quirk was back! Why, oh why did the mere idea make him get so hot?!

So he was _kind-of-sort-of_ crushing on her, so what?! That was a normal teenage thing, wasn't it?! You were allowed to secretly crush on your really pretty friends!

Katsuki was still laughing when they heard a sleepy grumble coming towards them. "Izu, what time izzit?"

Eri stumbled towards the kitchen table, rubbing her eyes sleepily after begin woken up. Izuku uncovered his face and Eri blinked at him, still half-asleep. "You look like a strawberry…"

Katsuki snorted again and his forehead fell against the table as he hugged his wracking stomach. Izuku fanned his face and tried to shake off any of his previous thoughts. "I-I'm fine Eri, it's late. We-we should go to bed!"

He closed his laptop and scooped the little girl up, who immediately began to doze off in his arms. Izuku made to walk for his bedroom, but Katsuki stopped him after a moment until the teenager turned back around.

"I'm messing with you, dude," Katsuki sniggered. "Mostly."

Izuku managed a weak smile, his face still red. "Thanks. I feel a little better."

"Better than thinking of Round-face in a skin-tight bodysuit?"

Izuku was sent into another blushing fit and Katsuki laughed only a little more before Izuku all but ran back to his room with Eri. The explosive teen sighed and closed his own laptop before turning off the lights and moving to sleep on the couch.

In reality, he knew Izuku _had_ actually been trying to think of ways to help his friends out rather than just imagine Ochako in a bodysuit like Kai'sa's. After all, Ochako's normal costume was a skintight suit and he knew Izuku wasn't a pervert in any way, shape, or form. But Katsuki thought that getting a rise out of Izuku with the suggestion that he liked Ochako would give his friend a sense of much-needed normalcy. They needed to tease each other every now and again.

Also, it provided Katsuki with plenty of hilarity to abuse in the future. There was always something good about that, he thought with a smirk.

* * *

At U.A, it was a late night for all of the Pro Hero teachers. They were making sure things ran smoothly for the remaining duration of the Sports Festival, and at the same time had to manage some degree of damage control for this day's events.

At least for now, things weren't so bad- much of the world was still trying to process what they'd seen and the hype of the Sports Festival as an event was still going strong. People were already sending questions and concerns their way, but it wasn't yet the flood of criticism they'd anticipated. The criticism in fact was not the reason they were gathered for a late meeting.

It was just a small group of people: Nezu, All Might, and Recovery Girl. The old woman had requested them in her office despite it being so late. That meant, to the pair of veterans, she had some real concerns that needed to be addressed.

"What's going on, Chiyo?" Toshinori asked, having relaxed into his true form. "Is this about Izuku?"

"It is," she confirmed from the seat at her desk. "I would have saved this for tomorrow, but I've got some mysteries on my hands here that need more than one mind to solve. It's also got me rather concerned."

Nezu nodded patiently. "What do you have?"

"Earlier today, Izuku's Quirk was forcibly suppressed by his body," she began. "I believe it was an emergency response to him having such a flame about him that he couldn't withstand the heat. There was the possibility that he'd gone through a heat stroke, so I conducted a number of tests on him after he was stabilized from surgery. To evaluate the damage, I took a CT scan of his brain, but before I show it to you, I have a few questions I need to get off my chest."

"Firstly, Izuku's Quirk is an extreme oddity for me. We've seen firsthand that he can wield an enormous amount of power with All Flare, but doing so destroys him. Why is that?"

"Is that so unusual?" Toshinori queried. "He damages himself if he overdoes things with One for All. He just needs more experience."

"For his _own_ Quirk?" She asked sharply. "A Quirk he was _born_ with? Never mind the fact that he held off using it for so many years, he should still have resistances to it, but the heat-proofing properties of his skin don't even begin to equate the sheer degree of power he can generate. Don't you think it's odd that his body is forced to such extremes for his own Quirk?"

"Compare his Quirk to a similar case- Shoto's, for example. If Shoto's physical resistances were as low as Izuku's are to his Quirk, it would be the equivalent of giving himself frostbite every time he freezes his right half beyond a certain point. Of course, he has his limits, but Izuku has shown that his resistances are significantly lower than Shoto's when emitting a similar degree of energy."

Toshinori conceded the point. He had to admit it was…unusual that Izuku's body was damaged to such a degree from his own Quirk. To be frank, he'd actually hurt himself with All Flare nearly as much as One for All, a Quirk he'd only recently obtained. Considering that he'd had All Flare with him for the vast majority of his life, that was…concerning.

Nezu's tail waved behind him slowly. "A Quirk defect?"

"Surprisingly, no," she shook her head. "Actually, when I took a look at his records and performed a Quirk analysis with the blood sample I took from him, I found that both Izuku's body and his Quirk are perfectly healthy. He's in great shape for a boy his age, he shows no signs of physical illness or disability, and his Quirk is, for all intents and purposes, completely fine."

"Then what…?" Toshinori trailed off.

Recovery Girl held up her finger. "Imagine if you gave a power like One for All to an unprepared individual. In the average case, their body wouldn't be able to withstand the sheer amount of power and would self-destruct. I suspect what's happened here is that Izuku's body has managed to contain All Flare's power at the cost of mitigating its output simply because it isn't physically capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures past a certain point."

Nezu frowned. "Incapable of withstanding extremely high temperatures…that is unusual. Given what Viper was capable of…"

"That's the most unusual thing to me," Chiyo suddenly turned towards her desk and extracted a folder, which she passed to Toshinori first. "I was present when Viper attended school here for just a single year and during that time, I also performed a Quirk analysis on him- that's what this record is. The thing is…from what I can tell, Izuku's Quirk is actually _stronger_ than Viper's was at his age. He's capable of making temperatures soar beyond what Viper could manage; his father wasn't able to melt steel back then or instantly carbonize cells, and not for lack of trying. And yet, when I compare the two of them, Viper had vastly greater heat resistances and his flame output was on par with Shoto's."

Nezu's frown deepened. "The parent's Quirk developed better than the child's?"

"Quirks, like all hereditary traits, undergo adaptation and evolution over time," Chiyo explained. "This is dependent on many factors, some of which include the unique traits of parents, environmental changes, the health of an individual, their upbringing, and so on. There's a general trend of Quirks becoming better adapted for their users with every generation, even if it's just a little bit. Someone who is a little heat resistant, with the right combination of parents, might produce a child capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures. Very rarely do they regress, and never, _never_ in a perfectly healthy individual."

"So why is Izuku, despite being stronger than his father was at his age and being perfectly healthy with no defect to his Quirk, unable to withstand the same degree of power as Viper was?"

Toshinori scratched his head as he studied the information in the folder. It was true…there were so many oddities with All Flare that they'd overlooked. Why on earth did it destroy Izuku as much as One for All did? It was his Quirk, a trait he'd possessed for nearly his entire life. It wasn't a recent addition and his body should have adapted to it over time.

So why?

"Do you have a hypothesis?" Nezu asked Recovery Girl.

She hesitated. "I do. How plausible it is, I'm not sure and there are many things I'm still in the dark about, but I do have an…educated guess."

The old woman turned towards her desk and extracted a sheet of paper used for a CT scan. "This is a scan of a normal person's brain after their Quirk has activated. For accuracy's sake, I selected one with a flame Quirk as similar to Izuku's as I could. The individual in this case was roughly the same age as Izuku is, about sixteen years old."

Nezu took the sheet and observed it, noting the portion of the brain that was alight with activity because of their Quirk. Pretty standard stuff.

Recovery Girl passed him a second sheet of a different brain. "This is Izuku just after he fought Shoto. Keep in mind this was after his temperature was stabilized."

Nezu accepted the second scan and blinked, staring at it before glancing back to the first sheet. In comparison, the section of Izuku's brain that managed his Quirk was…massively more active. The activity size, which was highlighted in both scans, nearly tripled the first one.

"This isn't because of One for All. It's a completely different type of Quirk and uses a different part of the brain which I've highlighted here," she reached over and pointed at another part of Izuku's scan, which was highlighted to a much more natural degree. "This extreme area is All Flare."

"Are you sure it isn't because he'd just gone through a traumatic event?" All Might asked. He wasn't trying to brush it off; there was nothing about this he wasn't serious about. Something was going on with his protege, something serious and it had his heart pumping in a way that felt uncomfortable in his chest.

Recovery Girl silently reached for a third sheet and passed it to him. All Might studied it and frowned upon seeing an extremely highlighted area in the brain, the same as Izuku's. "Who's is this?"

"That, All Might, is the fellow Izuku defeated at U.S.J. It's Noumu's brain scan."

All Might's eyes grew wide. _"What?"_

Nezu took the scan from the stunned hero and compared the two, scrutinizing them closely. "There's a difference. The highlighted part of the brain is the same, but the rest of Noumu's brain has more or less shut down except for core motor functions. In Izuku's case, his brain is healthy. You're 100% positive this isn't because of One for All?"

"I am. Moreover, I think I can pinpoint the source of this," she said. "Noumu's brain was overloaded because he had multiple Quirks- Quirks that his body couldn't adapt to, rendering him into a vegetative state that was somehow able to be animated by voice commands. According to this scan, Izuku possessed the same activity as Noumu did- _hypothetically_ , he's got multiple Quirks."

"Wait, wait," Toshinori shook his head and held his hands up, trying to process what he was being told. "Izuku has never demonstrated an ability beyond All Flare!"

"Didn't he?" She murmured gravely. "He stole the fire half of Shoto's Quirk. And I say Quirk, All Might. Not _flame_. The _Quirk itself."_

Toshinori face blanched to a gaunt white.

"My analysis of what's going on here is thus," she continued. "Izuku's All Flare _is_ natural. I'm certain of that- it's merged perfectly fine with his mother's Quirk to produce something new and different, like any other child's. What is unnatural, I believe, is _Viper's_ Quirk. Izuku's ability to steal a flame Quirk, however temporary it is, I think was probably intended for Viper, but it was unable to develop properly in him because the entire basis for his Quirk was artificial in the first place. The ability resided in Viper, dormant and unable to emerge, but it's appeared in Izuku because his Quirk was formed more naturally."

"I suspect his ability to "steal" a Quirk is more akin to borrowing and that it's very, very limited because it's had next to no time to evolve. In fact, he's probably only able to borrow other fire Quirks, and likely for a very limited time. It's a small Quirk at this stage that is technically mixed with All Flare, but it's also alien enough to light his brain up with the extra activity, giving it the appearance of a secondary Quirk. It could be that because his body thought it was addressing two Quirks at once, it didn't grow to properly handle All Flare's full power."

"That's led me to this conclusion; I don't think Viper's Quirk was entirely natural at all. Actually, I wonder if Viper _himself_ was completely normal. There's no reason why he should be able to use his Quirk better than Izuku can. There's no reason a secondary Quirk should have been residing in his brain, dormant the way it was. And there's no way a Quirk like his, able to control all other flames, was able to develop instantly in a single individual with no time to evolve and no bloodline to trace it back to. Not even a genetic mutation would explain this; had Viper's Quirks been a sudden mutation, he would be vegetative like Noumu is. Multiple Quirks simply don't form normally in a single individual. That's something that happens artificially. For him to be able to use his Quirk more effectively than Izuku can…I think it means Viper was probably _enhanced_ somehow."

The room was utterly silent for a long, long time. Toshinori's head fell slightly, prompting Nezu to look at the hero with some concern. "All Might?"

"I've wondered for a long time about this," he said, surprising them. "If Viper was hiding something from me. I met him when we were both in our first year of U.A. We were rivals, friends even. We trained with Gran Torino together…but there was always something about him, something…Both of us were able to use our Quirks well and were at the top of our class, but I remember sparring with him once and thought that something was odd."

"It was an intense match, but somehow, he was able to keep up with and physically match my moves, though not if I was going at him with 100% of my power. I was too caught up in the adrenaline to really think about it- both of us were. But later it struck me that he'd fought me on nearly even ground not just with his Quirk, but physically as well. For a human without a strength enhancing Quirk, power like that isn't something one normally possesses."

"And when we fought the last time sixteen years ago, I was unable to instantly put him down with 100%. He was powerful- it wasn't just his Quirk. Something had changed and he was able to fight me for hours. The city was destroyed because I just…couldn't beat him down fast enough. His reflexes and physical strength were completely inhuman, and yet he wasn't overly bulky at all. He'd always been fit, but it shouldn't have been to that extent…"

Recovery Girl nodded slowly. "Keeping up with and fighting you on even terms in your prime…he was probably enhanced genetically somehow. If that's true, it's no wonder things are the way they are. If he was… _made_ to withstand All Flare, a Quirk that was unnatural at the time…"

"…then Izuku's body, which isn't enhanced, is unable to withstand the same power," Nezu sighed quietly.

Toshinori covered his face with one hand as he fought down the lump in his throat. "This is my fault. If _he_ knew this would happen, knew that Inko's son wouldn't be able to withstand his own Quirk…"

"Toshinori, enough," Chiyo said softly. "There's no use torturing yourself over it. Whatever he may or may not have intended, we've reached this point. All we can do is try and help as best we can."

* * *

Ochako walked to her classroom with a rush in her step. It had been three days since her class had participated in the U.A Sports Festival and she'd gotten none of the messages she'd sent to Izuku or Tenya answered at all. The entire weekend had gone by with nothing from either of them and only her parents surprising her with an unexpected visit had been able to keep her from outright going over to Izuku's house or the hospital to try and make sure they were doing okay. Her mother had told her that the two of them probably needed some time to themselves and suggested she ask them in-person at the school.

She'd watched the TV stations covering the Sports Festival and seen their reactions to the revelation that Izuku was Heat Viper's son. She'd seen their shock over the attack on Tenya's older brother and learned that he'd probably have to stop being a hero entirely.

Both of her best friends were going through so much and she hadn't been able to find out how they were doing. She'd even left for school earlier than normal to try and catch them before class started.

She made it to the classroom before any of her classmates and paused there, spotting a piece of paper taped to the door. Ochako frowned. Had Mr. Aizawa changed rooms for some reason?

She got close enough to read the paper and scanned it for a few moments. She read it again. And again.

Ochako ripped it off the door and tore it to pieces right then and there. Her eyes glared up and down the hallway, looking for whoever might have put it there, but there was no one to be found. She found a trash can and threw the scraps of paper away, anger still bubbling under her skin.

"Ochako, you okay?"

She jumped slightly and spun around, feeling a little relief when she realized it was Tsuyu, with Midnight trailing behind her. "Hi, Tsu. Hi, Ms. Midnight. I'm…I'm okay."

The frog-girl put a finger up to her bottom lip. "You don't look okay. You like a little mad."

Ochako shook her head. "It's…nothing. Just…"

"Is it about that note someone left on the door?"

Her gaze met Midnight's sharply. "You saw it?"

"No," she shook her head. "Tsuyu found it and went looking for a teacher to report it to, but it looks like you beat us to it."

"Oh," Ochako slapped her palm against her forehead. She definitely should've reported it instead of tearing it up, now that she thought about it. "I'm sorry, I-I was so mad, I just tore it up without thinking…"

Midnight sighed. "It's alright. We were hoping to avoid something like this, but I suppose given what happened at the Sports Festival, we couldn't avoid all the backlash."

"But that was really cruel, even if people are upset," Tsuyu replied with a frown.

Their teacher nodded. "If it really said what you told me it did, that is more…concerning. I'll inform Eraser Head and the other teachers to keep an eye out for any trouble inside the school."

Ochako dipped her head, worrying her bottom lip as she recalled the message that had driven her into such anger.

 ** _It's your fault they all died. Jump off a bridge and apologize to them._**

She shook the thought of the note from her head and looked back down the hallway in search of their classmates, but blinked when she spotted someone unfamiliar watching them. She couldn't see their face because they were wearing a dark hoodie, but they flinched when she locked her eyes on them.

Ochako scowled. "Hey, did you put that note up?"

The person hesitantly backed off at the hostility in her tone and turned round the corner when Tsuyu and Midnight spotted him. Ochako ran after them, determined to figure out just who the guy was.

As she turned the corner, her eyes caught sight of someone on the ground and realized that the person was sitting down, leaning against the wall and hugging his knees to his chest. Ochako frowned in confusion. "Hello?"

"Sorry, I-I didn't mean to make you upset," they replied shakily.

Ochako recognized the voice immediately and knelt down, lifting the hoodie off of the person's head.

"Deku?"

Izuku kept his face hidden in his knees, unwilling to look up at her. "I'm sorry, Ochako. I-I didn't want to make you upset. I'll-I'll come by class later or something-"

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa," she cut him off, frowning at him. "I'm not upset with you, Deku. But why are you hiding?"

"…Everyone's upset…I couldn't really go around anywhere all weekend because a lot of people recognized me and got mad, so I started wearing my hoodie around. "

Ochako's heart went out to the boy, who looked so very small curled up in that hoodie of his. He didn't deserve this. He wasn't some super villain spawn who wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, he was just an awkward, nerdy guy who had trouble standing up for himself. He'd proven already that he had the mindset of a hero, not a villain- she'd known that way back when he saved her at the entrance exams. There wasn't a single bad bone in his body.

He just didn't have it in him to be an evil person, and the fact that so many people couldn't see that made her sad.

"Hey, you don't have to hide like that, okay?" Ochako smiled at him, lifting a hand to squeeze his shoulder. "Come on, you're the Deku who doesn't give up, right? There's no reason to be scared!"

"Right," Midnight agreed from behind Ochako. "Besides, it's not like you've done anything wrong. The people will forget about it once you debut and show them all the good you can do. People are afraid of what they don't understand. If you give them time and show them that there's nothing to be scared of, they'll eventually rally behind you rather than against you."

Izuku finally let out a shaky breath and nodded into his knees. Ochako gave his shoulder a gently pat and reached for one of his hands. "Come on, let's get you up, okay? We've got another full day ahead of us!"

The teenager nodded again and let Ochako help pull him to his feet. He rubbed his face for a few moments and frowned again. "What were you saying earlier about a note?"

Ochako blinked, thinking for a moment before recalling why she'd been so upset in the first place. "Oh, um…it's nothing. Minoru pulled some prank saying that we had to wear shorter skirts to enter the classroom. I tore it up."

Izuku rolled his eyes. "That guy doesn't give up, does he?"

"I guess not," Tsuyu chuckled with a smile. "Izuku, where's Katsuki? He's usually always with you on the way to school."

Izuku shifted uncomfortably. "Erm…I think he's still yelling at those people gathered around the front of the building."

"People?" Midnight echoed with a frown. "What people?"

"Um…I think they're here for me…they didn't see me, so I snuck into the school while Katsuki went over and started yelling at them to go to hell or something like that…"

Midnight pinched the bridge of her nose. "That guy is so…I better go save those people before he blows them up. You three just make sure you're in class on time or Aizawa will get mad at me for distracting you."

While Midnight strode off to prevent Katsuki from committing a mass murder, Ochako and Tsuyu led Izuku into the classroom, chatting about what their weekends had been like. Over the next twenty minutes or so, the rest of their class slowly joined them.

Most of the class seemed unaffected by the events of the Sports Festival- Mina, Eijirou, Denki, Hanta, and Kyoka didn't appear to be threatened or upset by Izuku's presence at all. Most of them came over and started chatting with Izuku about the upcoming video game tournament he and Katsuki had mentioned to them, asking when and where it was to see if they could come and watch. Some, like Fumikage and Yuga, didn't behave any differently and simply went to their seats.

Others weren't so welcoming. Mashirao walked into the classroom and upon spotting Izuku, his mouth set in a line. Outright ignoring the teen, he walked to his desk, set his backpack down, and refused to look towards them.

More than once, they had people simply pop their heads into the room to get a look at Izuku. Some were curious, others were angry, but none had the balls to say anything to Izuku when Katsuki got to the classroom and offered each and every person (teachers coming to see Aizawa included) a glare that promised death if they overstepped their boundaries.

He was already incredibly pissed about the group of people outside (whom Midnight and Nezu had already shooed away) who dared to make a scene and demand U.A expel Izuku from the school. If anyone, _anyone_ , decided to tip him over the edge, it was going to be the last mistake they ever made.

Just before class started, Shoto walked into the room.

The class grew quiet and even Eraser Head slightly opened one of his eyes at the sudden silence in his room. Shoto spotted Izuku and the two boys just looked at each other, one impassive, one nervous, before Shoto simply walked to his desk, sat down, and waited for class to start.

Denki let out a breath and muttered lowly. "That shouldn't have been as tense as it was…"

"Well duh, the last time they saw each other, they were firing on all cylinders," Kyoka pointed out. "Of course things are gonna be weird for a bit."

Izuku cast a nervous glance after Shoto, prompting Hanta to tilt his head a bit. "You good, dude?"

"I'm fine," Izuku assured him. "I just…need to talk to him at some point…"

The teenager shifted in his seat and frowned when he felt his leg brush against something on the underside of his desk. He reached underneath it and frowned further. Paper? Something was taped to the underside of his desk. Carefully, he peeled it off without ripping it as best he could and pulled it out.

It was a note for him.

* * *

 **A/N: I can already see people freaking out about Izuku's Quirk and his ability to "borrow" other fire Quirks being overpowered, so let me just address this before you lose your minds about it! Without giving away too many spoilers, his ability to "borrow" a Quirk is limited ONLY to fire Quirks, so he will not be randomly borrowing other Quirks left and right. In all honesty, it is an extremely minor part of his power and it will rarely be featured in the story. I know this might seem like a questionable decision on my part, but trust me, it's actually really important for a key plot point that will be featured in a later arc.**

 **His ability to borrow a fire Quirk from someone else is VERY limited. In fact, All Flare as a whole is very limited outside of certain situations. That was one of the things I was going for when I decided to write this story- a Quirk that can be strong, but only situationally. It would be too much if Izuku was always super strong and had access to One for All at the same time. There would be no point in writing him if he was crazy overpowered. So don't have any fear, I'm not adding in the ability to borrow another fire Quirk because I think it's cool- it's a legit plot point for later and it isn't going to be used often. I had this ability planned before I even wrote the story because I couldn't work around the plot later on as well without it. It's important, but it won't make him overpowered. Don't worry :)**

 **As far as my updates are concerned, from now on I'll be sticking to a schedule that goes as thus: A chapter for Viridescent, followed by a chapter for Challenger, and then a chapter for Serpentine. Serpentine will last at least ten chapters, but may stop at that depending on feedback and if I can come up with a decent plot for it. Right now, it's strictly experimental, but I want to be working on at least two stories at once. So to all the people asking me to focus on just one story or another, I'm sorry, but that's just not happening. I like writing multiple stories because it diversifies things and keeps me from getting bored.**

 **That's all for now! Please review, and thanks for reading!**


	17. Teacher of the Greats

_Chapter Seventeen: Teacher of the Greats_

For maybe the fifth time that day, Ochako's eyes trailed from the board over to Izuku on the other side of the room. He'd been pretty quiet all day, but that wasn't surprising given the current circumstances. She just wasn't sure how bad the circumstances were at that very moment.

There had been another note taped under his desk.

Ochako remembered seeing Izuku pull the piece of paper out and stare at it for a few moments before swallowing hard. He had discreetly tried to put it into his backpack and when Ochako asked what it was, he offered her a shaky smile and said it wasn't important. The bell had rung then and she hadn't been able to ask him about it any further, but she was afraid it was another threatening note.

It really, really bothered her that someone was willing to go so far to attack him like this. People were acting as though Izuku was the one responsible for Viper's crimes and none of that made any sense. He hadn't even been _born_ back then.

But even scarier was that these notes felt like they were just the beginning. Ochako had to wonder…how much farther would these people go to hurt her friend?

"These are all the students who were nominated by Pros who thought they performed well during the Sports Festival."

Her attention was brought back to the board as Aizawa brought up a list of students who had been offered week-long internships from their showings at the event. Shoto and Katsuki were at the top by a huge margin, followed by Fumikage, Tenya, Denki, Momo, Eijirou, Ochako, and Hanta. Aizawa jerked his thumb towards the results. "It's usually more balanced than this, but this year all the attention went towards those two at the top."

Mina puffed up her cheeks in indignation. "You know, I thought I did pretty good! Stupid adults…"

For once, Yuga agreed with her. "Those professionals have no eye for talent~"

Kyoka had an eyebrow raised at the results. "Katsuki and Shoto switched spots for first and second place? Why?"

"They probably chickened out when they saw him beat Shoto up the way he did," Denki guessed.

Katsuki rolled his eyes and growled. "Fine by me, I don't want some lame-ass Pro nominating me, anyhow. The ones who are left have a spine, at least."

Momo looked a little disappointed by the results, but she still turned to congratulate her classmate sitting next to her. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you did so well."

Shoto grimaced. "A lot of those are probably because of my father…"

"Wait, wait, wait, hold the phone!" Minoru jabbed his finger at the board. "Where the heck are Izuku's votes?"

Aizawa looked at him blankly. "There aren't any."

Izuku leaned his chin on his hand and sighed. "Yeah, I had a feeling…"

"Regardless of whether you got a nomination or not, I'll be having you all go get some "work-place experience" with pro heroes," Aizawa went on. "But if you're all gonna hit the streets with pros and work with them, you'll need code names. That's what you'll be doing until lunchtime- come up with your hero names. You don't have to decide on something permanent now, but you better start thinking about it."

"It'll be a hassle to deal with later if you don't!"

All eyes flew to the door as Midnight walked in, flashing Aizawa a grin. The male hero grunted in agreement. "The image you project to the public will depend a lot on your names. If there's something in particular you want to symbolize, pick a name to match it. For example, All Might."

They spent the next fifteen minutes coming up with names and ideas. Once the fifteen minutes were up, the students were surprised when Midnight announced they'd be presenting those names to their class.

There were some odd ones, like Yuga's "I Cannot Stop Twinkling", some that fit but didn't really give the right image, like Mina's "Alien Queen" (which in fairness was a pretty good name in Izuku's opinion) and then cute ones like Tsuyu's "Froppy".

Once Tsuyu got her two cents in, most of the names flowed smoothly. Red Riot, Earphone Jack, Tentacole, Cellophane, Tail Man, Sugar Man, Pinky, Chargebolt, Invisible Girl, Creatie, Tsukuyomi, and Anima were all approved by the class and Midnight.

Shoto opted for just his name. He hadn't been able to think up a name that really suited him, and so kept his everyday name instead. Tenya had gone the same route, though he appeared to be uneasy about it.

Then Katsuki came along…

"King Explosion Murder," Katsuki announced with a diabolical grin.

Needless to say, that was shot down immediately. His revision, "Lord Explosion Murder" was also rejected.

When it was Izuku's turn, no one in the class was really sure what to expect, but the name he revealed to them still managed to surprise them.

"Dude, you sure you're okay with that?" Eijirou asked with a brow raised.

"You might be called that forever, you know," Kyoka added.

Izuku smiled nervously. "I know, but I like this name. It was just a teasing thing at the start, but someone changed the meaning of it for me not long ago and it stuck with me. So…this is what I want my hero name to be."

Katsuki blinked at the name dubiously. Ochako's lips curved up in a large smile she had trouble containing.

The name written on his board was their common nickname for him. Deku.

* * *

At lunch, Izuku tapped his fork against the platter restlessly. He hadn't really eaten that much, Ochako noticed. He'd been deep in thought for a while now…it was starting to get to her. With how hard he worked, Izuku usually ate a pretty large amount of food to make up for the calories he burned every day. Well, most of their class did, now that she thought about it. He'd barely touched his meal today, though.

About halfway through lunch, he finally sighed and stood up. Katsuki gave him a sideways look. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not really hungry," he murmured. "I think I'll get some fresh air instead before lunch break ends."

Katsuki grunted. "Whatever. Where ya going?"

"I don't know. The roof, maybe?"

That shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did. Their little group sometimes ate on the roof, after all. But to Ochako, it brought back unwelcome thoughts of the note she'd found on their classroom door earlier that day.

 _It's your fault they all died. Jump off a bridge and apologize to them._

Maybe she was overthinking it. She had to be, right?

But he'd found that note taped under his desk- the one she still had no knowledge of- and he'd barely eaten anything…he hadn't really been himself all day…

She couldn't stand thinking about it. Ochako stood up a minute later and left without a word, too nervous to respond to her friends calling after her. There was a tight feeling in her chest as she left her food platter with the rest of the dirty dishes by the kitchen and then walked for the nearest staircase at a brisk pace.

Once she was at the stairs with no one around, Ochako went into a full-on run. It might've just been a suspicion, but the idea of Izuku giving in to the demands of those vile people terrified her. She thought he wouldn't do something like that…right?

He wouldn't jump, would he?

She dared not risk the possibility.

She must've beaten her personal records with how fast she ran, arriving at the door to the rooftop faster than she ever imagined she could. Panting, she looked out the window for Izuku as she made to open the door and froze.

He wasn't alone.

Standing a few paces away from him was the same teen he'd fought during the Sports Festival; Hitoshi Shinsou.

She cracked the door open slightly as quietly as she could and tried to listen in on what they were saying. She wasn't usually one for eavesdropping, but she didn't like the way neither of them seem surprised to see one another.

Like they'd been expecting it.

Hitoshi initiated the conversation. "I wasn't sure you'd come up."

"Your note didn't give me much of a reason to refuse," Izuku replied, obviously nervous. "You didn't say what you wanted, though."

Ochako felt her heart lurch. Hitoshi had written the note under Izuku's desk? Had he also written the one on the door? She suddenly remembered his Quirk and felt her blood run cold. Would he order Izuku to jump off the building?

They were quiet for a few moments before Hitoshi shrugged. "I wasn't really sure what else to write to get you up here. I'm not good at this type of stuff…but well, I guess the gist of it is I was surprised to find out you were Viper's kid and all."

Izuku tensed. "What about it?"

"Nothing, really," Hitoshi shrugged again, walking in a circle around Izuku and studying him with a curious expression on his face. "I don't get it, that's all. You don't look like the kid of some scary-ass super villain. More like a scared kitten, actually."

"I guess."

Hitoshi snorted. "You gotta learn to defend yourself better, man. I'm just screwing with you."

"What do you want?" Izuku asked, wary, but not in an unfriendly way. "You called me up here, but you haven't actually said much of what you want from me."

Hitoshi considered him for a moment before tilting his head to one side. He lifted one arm and averted his gaze as he ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. "Erm…well, long story short, I guess I owe you an apology."

Whatever he'd been expecting, that wasn't it. Ochako was surprised, as well. "Huh?"

"Well, I yelled at you during the tournament and gave you all that crap about being lucky to have your Quirk and all. I thought I might've been a bit harsh after the fight with how down you looked, but then you turned into a badass in your second fight and I figured it out myself," Hitoshi muttered. His normally pale face turned somewhat red with embarrassment. "Anyway, I'm sorry I gave you a hard time. I didn't know you had things so rough with your dad being who he is."

"Um…thank you?"

The smirk returned to Hitoshi's face. "You really are meek. How the hell are you the kid of a guy like Heat Viper?"

"I don't know," Izuku shook his head. "Not sure if I want to know, sometimes."

"Mm. Well, whatever. You won't be getting a hard time from me about it. I'll see you and your 1-A dorks in Hero Training, sometime," Hitoshi said as he walked off towards the door.

Ochako had taken a moment to calm her rabbiting heartbeat as the fear disappeared; Hitoshi had only called Izuku up to apologize to him, it seemed. She was a little too distracted at the moment, however, and before she knew what was happening, Hitoshi had opened the door and found her hiding there.

The purple-haired teen blinked at her before scowling slightly. "Were you eavesdropping?"

Ochako waved her hands in a wild panic. "Wha? No, no, no, no, I wasn't! Well, um, maybe a little? I, uh…"

"Breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll order you to float into the sun, gravity girl," Hitoshi muttered before shuffling past her. Ochako gulped and nodded.

Izuku had been about to follow along behind him and spotted Ochako. The sight of her, startled and frozen like a deer in headlights, made him frown in confusion as he held the door open. "Ochako? What are you doing here?"

"Um…er…I…" She stammered. Her mouth wasn't forming coherent words. What was she supposed to say again? She'd come up here concerned about Izuku, but now it just felt awkward. "I was…uh…worried?"

Izuku tilted his head, still confused. Ochako took a moment to compose herself and leaned in the doorway, twiddling her thumbs. "I thought…you might like some company up here."

"Eh?"

"You seemed so uneasy earlier and I didn't think it was a good idea for you to be alone when there are all these crazy people that are mad at you for no reason," she began, finding herself unable to stop once the words started coming out. "I didn't want you to get jumped by anyone and you haven't really been yourself all day and- and umm…well, that's why…I didn't want you to be alone."

Izuku's face flushed with color. "You didn't need to leave everyone else downstairs for that…"

Ochako looked down towards her feet. "Yeah, but…you don't need to be up here on your own, either."

He wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Izuku rubbed the back of his head with one hand, unable to look at Ochako with how nervous he felt. But at the same time…he felt happy that she'd gone out of her way to just come and find him. The corners of his lips quirked up at the thought. "Well…thank you."

She smiled at her feet and nodded. "Sure."

* * *

The day went by quickly after that. Before Izuku knew it, he was leaving his last class and getting ready to go home with his little group. But as they made to leave the classroom, they found All Might waiting outside along with Inko and Eri.

Izuku blinked at them. "Mom? What are you doing here?"

All Might set a hand on his shoulder. "We've just got some stuff to talk about. Sorry kids, I gotta borrow young Izuku here for a bit."

Katsuki grunted. "Whatever. See ya, Deku."

"Yeah, see you," Izuku replied, smiling at his friends as they filed out of class.

All Might took them to his office, where detective Tsukauchi was waiting for them. As soon as the door was closed, All Might sat as his desk, gesturing to the chairs for his guests. "Well, today went pretty well considering the backlash we were expecting. Were there any problems in class today, Izuku?"

He shook his head. "Not really. Everyone seems…okay with me, I guess."

"That's good," All Might smiled. "Truthfully, we were worried that the biggest risk would be from other students, but it seems like that's not going to be as big an issue as we suspected. We'll give it some more time and keep an eye on things, but classes will continue normally for you unless something serious comes up."

"Got it."

Tsukauchi cleared his throat. "Part of the reason we called you up here was so we could get an idea about how the other students at U.A took your parentage, but we also need to talk about Eri."

The little girl reached over to take Izuku's hand, who squeezed it gently. He looked at Tsukauchi nervously. "The blood sample?"

"Yes. Thank you for that, by the way," Tsukauchi smiled at Eri. "You did us a big favor, Eri."

She looked down shyly and mumbled something too quietly to hear. Tsukauchi went on. "Eri's blood sample was run through a large database that lets us ID missing people, but nothing turned up there. It's connected to the hospital's records and so we asked them to check, both national and international, to see if we could find a match, but we've turned up nothing."

Inko blinked in confusion. "Nothing?"

"Eri wasn't born in any hospital we know of," Tsukauchi explains. "She wasn't born at a home assigned to a delivery nurse. There's no birth record for her- in fact, there are no records of her anywhere. Legally speaking, she doesn't exist."

Izuku stared in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"There are several ways," All Might explained. "But the most likely concept is that she was born into a sheltered group that is cut off from the outside world. Whether she was born to parents who were members of the villain group that had custody of her or if she was taken by villains from those parents, we have no way of knowing yet. But there's no one out there looking for her, it seems. I can't say if her parents are unable to search for her or not, but for the moment, it looks like we're the only family she has."

Tsukauchi looked to Inko this time. "If things are going well, ideally we'd like for her to remain with you. Eri is still being taught how to manage her Quirk, so she needs to remain close to U.A. Is that okay?"

Inko nodded immediately. "It's completely fine with me. She's practically one of the family, now."

Eri smiled at that and leaned into Izuku's shoulder. He glanced at the little girl and squeezed her hand again.

All Might nodded. "Well, if that's all- ah, I almost forgot! Young Izuku, you got a last-minute offer from a Pro hero! But erm…he's uh, scary…"

"Uh…who is he?" Izuku asked with trepidation. A hero who scared _All Might?_ That was news to him.

"The man who was my homeroom teacher," All Might gulped, his normally large smile fading to one of utter terror as his body began to tremble violently. "Gran Torino. I-I don't know if he reached out to you because of the Sports Festival or if he simply couldn't watch my in-inadequate teaching, but…you should go work to your heart's c-c-c-content…"

He handed Izuku a small paper card with Gran Torino's contact and location information. Izuku took the card with a loud gulp. What was he getting himself into?

Inko seemed to be hiding a small smile as she turned to her son. "Izuku, would you mind taking Eri outside for a moment? I need to have a word with All Might."

"Um, sure," Izuku agreed. Tsukauchi stood to leave as well, opening the door for the children as he nodded to All Might. The door closed behind them.

Inko looked back to the number one hero, who had regained control of his nerve once he stopped talking about Gran Torino. Her smile became somewhat wry. "You don't have to stay in that form all the time around me, you know."

All Might hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh as he deflated to his true form. The skeletal man sagged back in his chair. "Whew…I've still got an hour or so left, but that really takes it out of me nowadays…"

"I can imagine," Inko murmured, studying the sharp, gaunt features of the hero. "Has Izuku really been doing alright in school?"

He nodded. "He was a little more nervous than normal in class today, but everything seems to be going well. I'll have another chat with him after the internships are over to see how he's getting used to it."

"Thank you," her smile became somewhat teasing. "I see Gran Torino still makes you nervous."

The man grimaced. "He was a brutal teacher, albeit an effective one."

"I remember," she laughed lightly. Inko regarded him for a moment in silence before shaking her head a little. "How long are you going to keep doing this, Toshi? Look at you."

"Until my job is done," he responded. "Until Izuku and the rest of his generation can go on without me there to help them."

She was quiet for a time. "You mean until you…"

Toshinori looked down at his desk. "Probably."

"…I want you to find another way," Inko said softly. "If there is another way, just…I know I don't have any right to ask that of you, but-"

"-I want to, too," he interrupted gently. "I want to be there for him as long as I can, even if I can't continue hero work at some point. If I…if I go, then I go, but I'm not going quietly. I'll do whatever I can to help Izuku become a hero."

Inko glanced away. "He loves you. He loves you the way he should have from the start. The way it should have been…"

Pain flashed in Toshinori's eyes. "We can't change what happened, Inko."

"I know, but I…It's selfish of me, but I can see it every time he comes home and talks about you," her smile trembled. "It makes me think sometimes that things could still change…It's just a silly little dream I have, like the one I had when I was their age. When I first met you and Hisashi…"

"And I don't want Izuku to lose you. I… _I_ don't want to lose you again."

They both fell silent after that. Inko got up after a minute and murmured a quiet goodbye to Toshinori before leaving the office. He ran a hand through his hair and let out a long exhale through his nose. "I don't know if I can promise that…"

* * *

The next day, Class 1-A was given their marching orders as Aizawa drove them to the subway station, where they would each board their trains and go to their internships. Each of them was given a suitcase with their hero costumes and the tickets were paid for by the school.

When they were dismissed by Aizawa after a brief lecture to behave themselves, Izuku spotted Tenya heading for his train and chased after him. His friend had been so grim the day before and when Izuku found out that Tenya was going to a hero office in Hosu City for his internship, he…he couldn't help but worry. Tenya wasn't the type to do reckless things, but he was still shaken by the attack on his brother.

"Tenya?" Izuku said hesitantly once he caught up with him. His friend stopped walking, but didn't turn around immediately. "I…I just want you to know, if you're ever feeling hopeless, tell us. We're your friends, right? We'll help you."

Tenya turned to look at him. The smile on his face was empty; Izuku had seen that same smile when he practiced in the mirror sometimes.

"Thank you."

* * *

Izuku looked at the address on his card and then back up at the ruined building skeptically. It was the right address, but…the home had definitely seen better days. It wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting given that Gran Torino scared even All Might. Then again, Izuku hadn't been able to find much of anything about this particular hero at all, which was unusual for him since he knew pretty much every hero statistics website known to man.

He gulped and knocked on the door, but blinked when it simply opened from him hitting it. Hesitantly, he pushed it open and glance inside. "Um, hello? I'm Izuku Midoriya…I'm from U.A High School…anyone ho-"

Izuku suddenly saw a small, old man face-down on the ground, red liquid under his body and what looked horrifyingly like intestines coming out of his belly. He screamed. "HE'S DEAD!"

The old man's head whipped up to look at Izuku. "I'm alive!"

"YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Izuku shrieked, still freaking out a lot.

"Dammit, I was carrying sausage links, then I tripped and got ketchup everywhere," the old man muttered with a dopey smile on his face. He stood up, leaning on his cane as he started to pick things up. "Who are you?"

"I-Izuku Midoriya!" He answered.

"Who?" Gran Torino repeated happily.

Izuku paled. He knew this guy was going to be old since he'd taught All Might, but was he actually senile?

The old man suddenly sat down in the mess of ketchup and looked up at him again. "I want some food."

"It's on the floor!" Izuku protested.

"Hmm?" Gran Torino tilted his head to the side. "Hisashi!"

"That's not even close to my name!" Izuku retorted, growing more and more confused by the second. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and started walking for the door. "Excuse me, I…I have to make a phone call for a second."

All Might needs to know that this guy is WAY too old, Izuku thought to himself. He heard the snap of a briefcase and glanced behind him to find Gran Torino pulling out his costume from the silver case he'd been given. "H-hey!"

"Fire off One for All at me," Gran Torino said suddenly, his tone changing. Izuku froze; he sounded a lot more serious than he had earlier. "All Flare too, if ya can."

"Wh-what?"

"This is a nice costume you've got here," the old man commented, pushing it towards Izuku. "Put it on and have at me!"

There was a momentary pause of silence before the dopey look returned to Gran Torino's face. "Who're you?"

Izuku smacked his hand against his forehead. "Erm…Look, I'm grateful you nominated me, but…I have to hurry and get stronger, okay? I can't play around with you, sir. Sorry, I have to call All Might…"

He turned for the door when the serious tone returned to Gran Torino's voice.

"You're really nothing like your dad, are ya? You look like him at first glance, but you're all soft like your mama."

Izuku froze in place. He was about to spin around towards the old man, but there was a sudden blast of wind behind him and then Gran Torino was perched against the wall above the door, grinning down at him dangerously. The senile old man he'd seen moments ago was gone completely.

"Well…you've got the same drive to get stronger, so I guess you're not completely different," the old man snickered. "If you're really in such a hurry, you've got an even bigger reason to come at me, boy!"

"What did you just…?" Izuku asked, still stunned. Gran Torino knew his father?

"You heard me," Gran Torino chuckled. "But I don't care about that right now. More importantly, the way you were throwing around One for All and All Flare about in the Sports Festival was disgraceful! All Might barely taught you basic control, the damn novice. Your old man had way better control back in the day when he was MY student!"

"Your-?!" Izuku's jaw dropped.

"Quit standing there with your mouth open like some dumb fool, you'll catch flies that way!" Torino snapped. "Put that costume on like I said and have at me! I'll grind into your bones how to manage All Flare and One for All the way you should!"

Unable to form an appropriate response, Izuku went for the briefcase and changed in the bathroom as quickly as he could. There was a users manual with the costume, as the department of heroics' support branch had made some minor tweaks to the design. It was a darker green with black patterns at his torso, and the mouthpiece that now hung around his collar was part of the upper half of his costume. Elbow and knee guards had been implemented into the costume as well.

He stood before Gran Torino in his costume's beta form, fists clenched inside the white gloves. "I'm ready, but…is it really okay to use my Quirk in here? I still have some trouble managing One for All and All Flare at the same time. If I go all out in here, I might damage everything and if I hit you, your body won't…"

"Good grief, quit blabbering, will ya?!" Torino rolled his eyes and suddenly flew to the side of the room, bouncing off the wall and then the ceiling to position himself above and behind Izuku. "I'm anxious to move!"

His foot slammed into Izuku's back with impressive force for such an old man. Izuku stumbled with a yelp, but regained his footing after a moment. He glanced around rapidly as Gran Torino bounced around the room, but he was moving too fast for the teenager to see what his Quirk was.

"We're fighting?!" Izuku shouted, trying to get a grasp for the old hero's speed. He was a blur to Izuku's eyes.

"Damn straight, whippersnapper!" Gran Torino landed on the microwave, crushing it beneath his feet. The old man sneered at his new student. "I can't believe the ninth holder of One for All is such a wet blanket. All Might really is a total novice at teaching!"

He blurred away and slammed into Izuku twice more as the boy tried to figure out his opponent's Quirk. But the old hero was still too fast for him and so Izuku went on the defensive, letting All Flare consume the entirety of his body. He began to spread One for All over himself, only for Gran Torino to smash into him again regardless of the flames.

"What the hell is that? A candle?!" The old hero cackled. "You can do better than that!"

Izuku grit his teeth and started to spread One for All across his body again. Gran Torino had passed behind him twice now over the last couple of seconds. Which meant…

He spun around to find the old hero flying towards his back. Torino grinned. "Analysis and prediction? Not bad! But you're sloppy!"

Izuku struck at the old man with All Flare and One for All spread over his right hand, but he found his arm suddenly pinned beneath Torino's foot as he was slammed onto his back. The flames lapped at Torino's costume, but didn't do much- it must've been fireproof. Realizing that he'd lost, Izuku let All Flare and One for All dissipate from his body.

"Your base ability is fine," Torino muttered. "But you're not flexible enough with those Quirks you've got. If you focus on one too much, the other is useless or too slow. I could see from watching the Sports Festival that you've got a good grasp on analyzing Quirks, but for someone with such a good eye, you're awfully blind when it comes to addressing your own abilities."

"What do you mean?" Izuku winced as Torino let him up.

"What is your Quirk?"

"…? All Flare and One for-"

"-and therein lies the problem," Torino cut him off. "You're overthinking things. Your Quirk is not as complicated as you're making it out to be. Your way of doing things with it is too inefficient."

"Then what do I-"

"Figure it out yourself. I'm stepping out for a sec to eat. Thanks for cleaning up!"

"Wha-!" Izuku protested as the old man left the building. The teenager stood there in silence for a minute as he tried to process what had just happened.

* * *

In a small bar deep in the city, Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri faced a man whom they had sought out as a potential member of the League of Villains; the Hero Killer, Stain.

The man glared at them with bloodshot eyes from behind a mask of bandages. He was lithe and muscular, his suit ragged and torn in multiple places, but the various blades he kept on him were as sharp as his eyes. His fingers seemed to always twitch towards his weapons, as though he were expecting his hosts to make a move on him.

"So…it was you bastards who raided U.A, was it?" Stain growled. "And now you wanna add me to your little gang…"

"Yep," Tomura confirmed lazily. "If you would, O' great Hero Killer."

"What is your goal?"

Tomura's head tilted to the side. "First of all, we wanna kill All Might. Then we'd like to do away with all the things that we don't like. Also, I wanna get this kid."

He flicked up a photo of Izuku, to which Stain's eyes narrowed. "The rest of his friends are annoying, though. I want them to die."

Stain's face twisted into a dangerous scowl. "I was foolish to be interested…You're the type of scum I hate the most."

Tomura stared at him in a bored kind of confusion. "Huh?"

"You want me to go along with some childish temper-tantrum?" Stain demanded. "Where is the sense to bloodlust without a cause? You're just a brat who wants to flaunt his power around!"

Kurogiri eyed the man warily as he made to grab his blades. "Sir, is this really okay?"

He was referring to the television, which was on a voice call. Their teacher only seemed to eager and amused. "It's fine, it's fine! Telling Tomura the answers won't get him anywhere. To improve, he must think over his own failures! Doing so will stimulate his growth. That is one of the most important things about being a teacher."

Kurogiri could only watch as Stain lunged at their protege. Tomura met the charge with his own.

* * *

Izuku was tapping his foot against the floor as he considered what Gran Torino had told him. His mind was still out of it after the old hero had dropped the bomb that he'd taught both All Might AND Izuku's father. It was making it difficult to think. All Might had never mentioned this…

He shook his head, he could think about that later. He needed to focus on his Quirks right now. What had Gran Torino meant? He wasn't flexible enough thinking about them? How so? He'd adapted to using All Flare and One for All well enough, even if it was a struggle maintaining them both.

 _What is your Quirk?_

That particular question rang back to him for some reason. Izuku frowned. The way it was worded was kind of different, as though it should've been obvious and yet…

Wait. Is? Singular?

He had two Quirks. Why would Gran Torino speak as though he only had…one?

"One Quirk?" Izuku tilted his head as he stared out the window. "But…"

Then it dawned on him. Whenever he went into a fight or used All Flare and One for All simultaneously, he charged up one before the other and often times, he tended to switch One for All on and off whenever he needed it, which took up yet more time. The way he used the pair of Quirks separately made things feel really awkward at times, as well…

But what if he treated them as a single Quirk? Kept both going full-on at the same time instead of using them randomly? He'd managed to do something like that before, but something told him Gran Torino was talking about something different. He was on the right track, but he was missing something.

"I don't get it," Izuku chewed on his bottom lip in frustration. "If I treat them as one Quirk, it's no different than how I usually fight."

He paused and walked into the middle of the living room, away from the furniture. Focusing for a moment, he spread All Flare and One for All over his entire body simultaneously, trying to figure out what it was Gran Torino wanted from him.

 _You're awfully blind when it comes to addressing your own abilities._

"What am I missing?" He murmured to himself quietly.

Outside, Gran Torino listened in on his new student and smirked. _He's starting to figure it out, but he might need another push, Toshinori. Well, since you were Quirkless, I suppose I can't really blame you for how you approached training him…but you have to realize, he's more like Nana. All Might._

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, it's a little smaller than I intended, but I think there's a pretty decent chunk of content in here for you guys to swallow. There'll be more next chapter, but I didn't want to make the ending of this chapter stretch too long. In any case, the next chapter will be out soon! For my Challenger readers, I AM working on the next chapter, I just ran into a slight issue I'm trying to address! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	18. Hosu City Battlefield

_Chapter Eighteen: Hosu City Battlefield_

Day one with Gran Torino passed by quickly after their sparring match. The old hero had given Izuku a lot to think about and left him to chew on it, even after he returned from getting food. Despite the hero's words, Izuku still felt like the concept of All Flare and One for All being "one" Quirk was something he hadn't yet grasped. It was a slippery challenge.

The next morning, Izuku conceded that he needed a little more help on the subject. He only had a week with Gran Torino- he had to make the most of it, even if it meant bending his pride as a Quirk fanatic and asking for some help.

"Still not getting it, huh?" Gran Torino chuckled when Izuku admitted he wasn't sure how to approach the subject. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. All Might taught you the basics of using One for All, but his knowledge can only help you so far in your case. Although he could handle it right off the bat thanks to his body, it's no wonder the difference between you slipped his mind."

"The difference?" Izuku frowned, confused.

"Well of course, he was Quirkless!" Torino exclaimed. "There wasn't another Quirk in All Might's body when he received One for All. That's what's fundamentally different. He doesn't know how One for All works with other Quirks the way his predecessor did."

"I…guess that makes sense, but…" Izuku's frown deepened. "Wouldn't One for All be the same with all of them? I mean, I know it gets stronger as it's passed from one person to another, but isn't that all?"

"Good grief, I should make you self-reflect for another day! Haven't you noticed anything?!"

The boy swallowed as he nervously watched the old hero, who sighed in exasperation. "What happens when All Might uses One for All?"

"Well…his strength increases, just like mine…"

"Minimalism isn't helping your case. Haven't you ever wondered why 'your' One for All sparks green, but not All Might?"

Izuku blinked. Actually…he hadn't thought of that at all. It was kind of embarrassing that he never noticed the difference, now that he considered it.

Torino could see the gears turning in his head and went on. "Take away One for All from you and All Might for a moment. What's the difference then?"

"All Flare…" Izuku replied immediately.

Torino's eyebrows rose as he stared at Izuku expectantly. "So…?"

"…" Izuku's mouth opened and closed a few times as he thought about it, a frustrated look forming on his face. "One for All is different for me because I had a Quirk when I received it and All Might didn't…but how is it different? Isn't One for All a Quirk that passes power down from one user to another? Isn't it the same Quirk every time?"

"It's true insofar that One for All is the same Quirk when it is passed on," Torino agreed. "But it differs for each user, especially for those who have Quirks when they receive it. And the difference is in how One for All _adapts_ to them. Because it's passed on from user to user, the Quirk itself had to be flexible at a baseline so whoever received it wasn't completely overwhelmed. Even then, they have to have a certain physical standard so the power doesn't destroy their body. All Might had you train before you received One for All, didn't he?"

Izuku nodded. Torino went on. "That's the prerequisite to receive the basic state of One for All. Put simply and largely incorrectly, its true form is raw energy, which can be then be molded by the user. But once a body receives One for All, it's the _Quirk_ which then adapts to its new host. No one person is exactly the same as another, no matter how similar they might be."

"What do you mean, it adapts?"

"Use your brain, kid! If One for All was the same for every user, don't you think it would be easy to figure out which people had it as time went on? Why isn't there suspicion or questions about why All Might's Quirk is similar to the seven users before him? Yes, the power of One for All has grown drastically, but if it was the same Quirk for every one of them, someone would eventually wonder why they were so similar!"

"But if the difference between each of them was their Quirks before they received One for All then they wouldn't…" Izuku's eyes lit up as it dawned on him. Gran Torino smirked.

"They'd look like they had completely different Quirks every time…" Izuku sucked in a sharp breath. "Because their Quirks _were_ completely different every time. One for All adapts to its user, so if they each had a unique Quirk beforehand, it would be different for every user…"

"Bingo. That's why you and All Might are so different. You both possess One for All, but All Might only has that and nothing else. He's got One for All in its rawest form and has nothing to channel it through except for his body. Your One for All has adapted to work with All Flare. In other words, All Flare has absorbed your One for All so they can be applied as a single Quirk. The way you keep trying to use them as separate Quirks is just making things more difficult for you."

Izuku held up his hands, igniting them and channeling One for All at the same time. Despite getting a better understanding of what was going on, he was still confused about something. "You say that they've merged into a single Quirk, but how? In what way is it different now?"

"Well, a lot of that you'll have to figure out for yourself," Torino grunted. "Your Quirk is unique, after all. Just like the other predecessors, you'll have to learn through trial and error. All I can really do is point you in the right direction. But let's try something; I want you to have a go at spreading One for All into your flames."

The teenager stared at him in confusion. "Is…is that even possible?"

"It's your Quirk; you tell me. This might be a boring metaphor, but think of it like this: What you're doing now is like making a chocolate-chip cookie, where they appear to be one, but you can still see where the cookie and chocolate are separate. What you want to do instead is imagine a cup of water. That's All Flare, your base. If you add in another substance, like a flavor additive, you get something else, like pink lemonade- that's One for All. In other words, your image should be a new, pure mixture."

"Mix One for All with my flames…" Izuku clenched his fist and stared at the fire, focusing hard and trying to imagine the sparks of green mixing with the flames, channeling the power he knew was there into All Flare…

He gasped as he felt something shift- the energy he could normally feel in his body when he used One for All had extended, coalescing into the fire around his hand. Emerald lightning arced from his arm in rough distortions, generating a low thrum. As he started to get a grasp for it, he ignited his other hand and let it spread from there over the rest of his body.

It was a tricky balance and he could only cover his whole body with it if it extended no further than about an inch off his skin, but he could do it. Looking down at himself, it appeared as though he were coated in a thin layer of rippling emerald, almost like a second suit. It seemed to swirl in blind patterns, little particles dancing over it like the spots on a plasma lamp. Pale green lightning arced off the energy layer from his arms below the elbows, his legs below the knees, and from Torino's perspective, along the fiery horns atop his head. His eyes took on an ethereal green glow, much as they had when he fought Shoto in the Sports Festival.

Gran Torino grinned and tossed his cane aside. "Think you can keep that up?"

"I…I don't know!" Izuku managed, struggling to maintain control of the fusion.

"Let's give it a shot," Torino grabbed a timer from the counter and set it. "We'll start with three minutes. Try and hit me with that Quirk of yours in that time!"

Torino started flying around the room as he had the day before, leaving Izuku just as stunned by the sheer speed. He slammed into Izuku's back, throwing the boy off-balance, but he managed to maintain control of the fusion.

"You're so slow!" Torino snapped. "You won't save anyone with that reaction time! He who is called 'The Symbol of Peace' must crush any barrier in his way!"

Izuku grit his teeth. _This is hard, but I can still use One for All with my body like I usually do!_

When Torino lunged at him again from behind, Izuku spun around and leaned back, then pushed off the ground to get above the old man. He twisted in midair and swung one of his fists at him, but Torino dodged by flipping away and landing on the wall.

"Close!" Torino shouted. "Try again!"

Izuku landed and leapt away from Torino, then placed his feet against the wall and pushed off to rush him. With a yell, he threw his right fist forward, but again Torino dodged and Izuku found himself punching the wall.

Quite simply, his fist tore through the bricks with the energy rippling around it, but his arm got stuck from the elbow down.

Torino cackled. "Uh-oh! Bad news for you, kid!"

He bounced of the ceiling, then the wall to fly at Izuku again. But the teenager had a surprise in store for him. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to tear his arm free of the wall in time, Izuku frantically spun his body in a wide roundhouse kick.

Torino barely managed to dodge the energized blow, but his face was tagged by a shock of energy, which still grazed his cheek and seared his skin with its intensity. He grabbed Izuku's head and pinned him against the wall, careful to avoid twisting the boy's trapped arm too much.

The timer went off. Torino grunted in satisfaction. "That's three minutes."

He let Izuku go, giving the teenager a chance to remove his arm from the wall with a wince. "Oww…"

"No one ever said it was going to be easy," Torino snickered at him. "Your form is still rough, but you've got the basic feel of it down now, right? We'll work on refining it from now on. But first, we need something to eat!"

* * *

In a little bar hidden away in the city, the Hero Killer Stain leered down at Tomura Shigaraki's immobile body, holding his blades threateningly. One dagger was buried in Tomura's right shoulder, the other held close to his throat.

"In order to accomplish something, a creed is necessary…and conviction. That those weaklings, who lack both of those things, are culled is only natural. That's why it turned out this way."

Tomura winced in pain at the blade digging into his shoulder. "Hahaha…Ow…you're too damn strong. Kurogiri, send this guy away!"

Kurogiri leaned weakly against the bar, unable to move just as Tomura was. "I can't do anything…it must be the Hero Killer's Quirk…"

Stain sneered at the villain beneath him in disdain. "The concept of a 'hero' has lost all meaning in this society. Fakers pretending to be heroes and villains run around, throwing their abilities every which way for nothing but money and power. They're the scum of this world…the scum which must be purged!"

The dagger nearing Tomura's throat hit the edge of the hand covering his face, causing Tomura to freeze. Suddenly able to move again, his hand rushed up and grabbed the blade, ignoring the way the sharp edge sliced his skin. "Stop. Not this palm."

Stain paused, watching as Tomura's eyes almost glowed with malice. "I'll kill you."

His dagger suddenly began to crumble away into nothing, while Tomura chuckled and grinned viciously. "You're way more chatty than I thought you'd be…conviction? A creed? I don't have anything so righteous. But if I had to decide on something…it'd have to be All Might. I wanna crush the society where that trash is put up so high and mighty into the dirt! That's what I wanna do!"

The dagger disappeared completely and Tomura swung at Stain, who deftly avoided him by leaping back and pulling his other knife from the villain's shoulder at the same time. Tomura stood up, staring down the Hero Kill as he clutched at the bleeding wound. "That really hurt, you know…We don't have a healer in our party. You gonna take responsibility for it?"

Stain considered Tomura for a few more moments before relaxing slightly. "That's what you're about, eh?"

"Huh?"

"It seems our goals lie at polar opposites of each other," said the Hero Killer. "But we have one thing in common: we want the society of today to be destroyed."

"Quit fuckin' with me," Tomura muttered. "Didn't you say I'm the type you hate the most?"

Sheathing his blades, Stain acknowledge the accusation with a grunt. "I was testing you. When someone is at death's door, they show their true colors. You're unusual, but there's conviction inside of you. A twisted creed ready to bud and bloom. I wonder how it will grow? Well, in any case, perhaps I'll save disposing of you until after I've ascertained you with my own eyes."

"Dispose of us…what a psycho. Kurogiri, I don't want such a crazy guy in our party."

"Tomura, if we add him to our ranks, our battle power will increase tremendously," Kurogiri told him as he regained the ability to move again. He turned to Stain and nodded. "Our negotiations are complete."

"Good. Now that that's settled, send me back to Hosu. I still have business to attend to there."

* * *

In Hosu City, Tenya and the hero he was interning with, Manuel, arrived back at the office. Tenya removed his helmet with a sigh. There hadn't been any encounters with villains today, least of all the Hero Killer he'd come looking for.

Manuel also took his helmet off and exhaled loudly. "Whew! Well, there wasn't much activity, but city is on high alert, so I suppose that was to be expected."

"I see," Tenya replied absently.

He'd done his research on the Hero Killer. Wherever he appeared, he always injured or killed at least four heroes before moving on to a different location. He'd down that at least seven times before moving to Hosu. So far, Tenya's brother had been the only one who was injured in this city. The likelihood was high that the Hero Killer was far from done with Hosu.

It was still impossible for Tenya to process that Tensei was retiring from hero work- that he was _paralyzed_ from the waist down because of a single psychopath's rampage. His beloved elder brother, his role model, and a rising star…forced to give up his life's dream due to pointless violence from one man.

He refused to take that lying down. He couldn't. Tenya was going to find that man and put him down personally. The Hero Killer would be back in Hosu, he knew it. Once Tenya found him, he'd put the bastard in the ground like he deserved.

* * *

Izuku let out a yelp as he was smacked into the wall again, lying back with his feet up in the air after their latest training session. It was day three of his internship and he'd spent a large portion of the day sparring with the old hero, which more or less meant he was beaten black and blue as he tried- and failed- to hit his agile and wily mentor.

Torino landed on the ground and snickered at him. "Well, you're getting better, but we should stop now. If you keep fighting just me, you'll start to pick up weird habits."

"But…I still need more practice," Izuku protested as he righted himself and rubbed his back. The thrumming green energy around his body vanished as he sat up. He winced and looked down at his arm; it had gone almost painfully numb. His legs felt weak and his skin was red in some places from prolonged exposure to the heat coating.

Torino merely shook his head. "No. We've down enough here. There's too much for you to learn in the short time we have; my goal was to help you get a basic grasp for utilizing One for All and All Flare as a single Quirk, anyway. Now we're moving to the second phase of training- workplace experience. In other words, we're gonna go do some villain-hunting!"

After they cleaned up and Izuku got changed into his hero costume, the two of them took a taxi to the train station. Gran Torino got them tickets to Shinjuku City and before long, they were on their way. Izuku knew they'd be taking a bullet train from Koufu to get there, which meant they'd pass by Hosu.

His thoughts trailed to Tenya, who hadn't replied to any of his text messages despite having read them. Izuku bit his lip worriedly; it was unheard of for his straight-laced friend to delay a response. He usually answered within about thirty seconds unless he was asleep.

Maybe he was just busy on patrol for his internship…

Glancing around, Izuku gulped in his seat. There were a lot of people on the train with them. He wasn't sure how long it'd be before someone recognized him…

In an attempt to distract himself from the possibility and his concern for Tenya, he looked at Torino and stammered. "Um…can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but sure."

"Uh…well, what was All Might like when he was your student?"

"Oh, him?" Torino snorted. "It was all practical training for him. When we first started out, I made him spew his lunch with a couple of punches."

Izuku sweated nervously. _Sheesh_ , no wonder All Might had been scared of this guy. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to take a hit from him back when he was younger and in better shape. He was able to beat Izuku senseless even now that he was a little old man!

Torino's voice quieted some as he glanced at Izuku. "I would've thought you'd want to ask about your dad."

Izuku froze and looked down at his hands, which gripped the fabric of his costume tightly. "I…I'm not sure if I want to know."

"…well, I'll just tell you what he was like when he was your age, how's that?"

"…okay."

Torino looked up at the ceiling and thought about it for a moment. "Hmm…he wasn't much like you at all. Overconfident, loud, arrogant, and much better at handling his Quirk. As you are now, he'd have kicked your ass."

"He was always competing with All Might; endlessly, actually. It got annoying after a while, I'll tell ya. Just one thing after another, never ending. Ugh, the idiots tried to see who could swim the fastest once in a fifty meter heat at the school pool. All Might destroyed a jumping board pushing off and Hisashi evaporated most of the water."

"Once, he demanded to spar with me since I trained with All Might most of the time and managed to singe my hair. He started laughing about it, so I gave him a concussion. He got a little quieter after that around me." Torino sounded rather smug.

Old people were just _terrifying_ when they were mad, weren't they?

"Smart kid, though," Torino admitted. "Top of his class beside All Might. Well, I attribute most of their better grades to your mom because of all the tutoring she gave them."

Izuku's head snapped towards Torino so fast that it almost gave him whiplash. _"What?!"_

The old man blinked at him. "Yeah, your mom met All Might and Hisashi back in high school. She didn't go to U.A, but the three of them met at their first Sports Festival and stayed in touch ever since. Didn't your mom or All Might tell you?"

He just stared at Torino with wide eyes, completely blown away by that particular bombshell. His mother knew All Might back in high school? They'd failed to mention this to him!

What _else_ hadn't they told him?

Torino seemed to realize that Izuku had absolutely no knowledge about any of this. He didn't exactly blame Inko or Toshinori for keeping quiet about it, but…jeez, the kid was gonna find out sooner or later. It wasn't his place to get into details about such personal matters, though.

He set a hand on Izuku's shoulder and sighed in exasperation. "Ask them once you get back. It's a long story, but I would've thought they'd say something to you by now."

* * *

Manuel looked back at Tenya with an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry, it's just more patrolling today! There's really not much else to do around here at the moment."

Tenya shook his head and replied quietly as he glanced down a nearby alley. "No…it's actually better this way."

The Pro hero considered Tenya for another moment in silence before stopping to face him. "Hey, this might be uncomfortable to ask, but…you came here to find the Hero Killer, didn't you?"

Tenya stiffened and Manuel took that as confirmation. "I couldn't think of any other reason you'd come to my office. Don't misunderstand; I'm very happy you came! It's just…you shouldn't let personal grudges affect your actions, especially as a hero. We don't have the authority to dish out punishment on villains or arrest them; that's the duty of law enforcement."

"If you start taking their authority and using it as your own, you're turning heroism into vigilantism. That's no small crime. Of course, the Hero Killer has enacted many crimes, so it's not like he's innocent. You're a good, straight-laced kid, okay? I understand you being angry because of what happened to your brother, but you have to draw a line between work and personal feelings."

Tenya dipped his head in acknowledgement. "I understand. I appreciate your warning."

Even so, he clenched his fists, frustrated and unsure what to do with the storm emotions boiling inside of him.

* * *

On a water tower in Hosu, a black portal opened up in a spiral, from which Stain walked through. Following him was Tomura, and then Kurogiri as he reformed his body.

Tomura's eyes scanned the city with a bored expression. "Hosu, huh? It's a little nice than I thought it'd be."

"I'm going to reform this town," Stain said darkly. "For that, I require more sacrifices."

"That's the business you spoke of the other day, is it not?" Kurogiri queried.

"I see you're someone who understands."

Tomura glanced at Stain in annoyance. "What are you saying about me, then?"

Stain growled and held his arms out to his sides. "The title of 'Hero' is one that should only be given to those who have performed great deeds! There are too many fakes who are in it only for the money! And until society realizes the error of its ways, I shall continue to appear!"

The Hero Killer leapt down from the water tower then, grabbing hold of his blades as he descended into the city.

Tomura scoffed. "He talks all high and mighty, but he's basically trying to start a grassroots movement. I could almost cry, it's so fuckin' noble."

"You can't mock him for that," Kurogiri said, causing Tomura to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "The places he's appeared in up until now have seen their crime rates drop significantly. Some experts attribute it to a rise in the heroes' awareness."

"Wow, that's amazing!" Tomura cried sarcastically. "He's got the heroes doing their best to put food on their tables! The Hero Killer is also the Hero Breeder!"

He scowled. "It's too roundabout. We just don't agree at a baseline. Whatever. Kurogiri, let the Noumus loose."

Kurogiri silently acknowledged him, forming a portal from which three bestial, humanoid creatures with their brains exposed emerged. Tomura grinned viciously. "You think you can just stab me and get away with it?! If I wanna kill you, I just will! Let's have a little competition to see who can fuck shit up the most! I'm gonna grind your pride, self-worth, and your prestige into dust, 'O great Hero Killer!"

* * *

Izuku stretched as he woke up from a short nap on the train, feeling his joints pop pleasantly. Pulling out his phone, he saw that it was getting late; it was already getting dark outside.

He turned to Gran Torino, who was leaning back in his seat patiently. "We're going to arrive at night at this rate, is that all right?"

Torino smirked. "It's good _because_ it's night! Criminals are more active when it gets dark out. There'll be run-ins with the enemy this way! It'll be fun!"

That wasn't exactly what he'd call fun, but Izuku conceded that he was right. He looked at his phone again (much to Torino's chagrin) to check his messages, but there was still nothing from Tenya. Izuku frowned, his worry returning to him.

The train's overhead speaker turned on with a ding. "Attention, passengers. Please hold onto your seats, we are currently undergoing an emergency stop-"

Izuku yelped as he was jerked forward by the momentum suddenly grinding to a halt, only for an explosion to blow the side of the train wide open. A man in a hero costume was violently thrown into the car, where he slammed into the floor, stunned. As he struggled to get up, a long, gray arm grabbed the hero's head and shoved him down again.

Another arm grabbed the torn metal and pushed it aside, revealing a gangly, humanoid creature with four eyes and an exposed brain. It made a low groaning sound and stared blankly at nothing in particular.

Izuku reacted in shock. "Noumu?!"

"Kid, stay there!" Torino roared, launching himself into the air and bouncing off the ceiling. He kicked the Noumu's face, forcing it to release the hero it had caught, then rebounded off the opposite wall of the train and slammed into the creature's gut, propelling it and himself out of the train, through the concrete railroad guard, and into a building not far away.

Izuku scrambled to his feet and rushed to the destroyed flank of the train to look outside after his mentor. His eyes widened as he saw an enormous fire raging further in the distance. Smoke billowed into the sky above the city. "What the…this is Hosu, right?!"

His blood froze. _Tenya!_

Two members of the train staff had rushed over to help with emergency aid for the hero and any wounded passengers. "Please return to your seats! The villain is no longer here! We've already called for heroes to help!"

Ignoring them, Izuku bounded out of the train and onto the railroad in pursuit of Gran Torino and to investigate the cause of the fire he saw. His mind was racing. _There can't be that many villains with their brains spilling out of their heads like that! Is it Noumu's brother?! What's he doing here?! Is the League of Villains here, too?! I gotta get over there!_

Concentrating on the run, he let his Quirk fuse and flow over him. _All Flare: Overdrive!_

He got the fused cloak of energy forming around his body as he reached the edge of the railroad and leapt off of it, landing on the closest building and running across the rooftop. He'd lost sight of Gran Torino- the veteran hero must've dragged Noumu somewhere further away from the train while Izuku was chasing them. With no idea as to where his mentor was now, he started jumping from rooftop to rooftop, closing the gap to the large fire as quickly as he could.

As he got closer, he leapt down onto the street and ran for the center of the commotion, letting the glow of his power disappear to stop the escaping civilians from panicking more. It would be just _fun_ if they saw him running around with his Quirk active right now.

 _If this Noumu is as crazy powerful as the one at USJ, then the whole city is in danger!_

"Tenya!"

Izuku almost stopped in his tracks upon hearing the call and rushed towards the source, bolting through a short alley to see who it was. He came out on the other side just in time to see a bus getting thrown into a smaller car.

An explosion ripped into the air, igniting a bright surge of flame as the gasoline ignited. Izuku threw up an arm to protect himself and try to see what was happening. He froze in shock as he got a good look at the scene.

Two more creatures like Noumu were rampaging, one a large behemoth with only a lower jaw and exposed brain for a head, the other flying on bat-like wings and a gas mask over its face as it held a hero aloft in its claws. There must have been a dozen heroes on the scene trying to fight them, but it didn't look like they were having much luck.

"What the hell…" Izuku gasped.

"Manuel, put out the fire!"

His head jerked towards a pair of heroes as one broke open a fire hydrant and another ran to it to point the water towards the raging inferno. Izuku recognized the latter of them as the Normal Hero who Tenya had been interning with.

Manuel glanced around in frustration. "Dammit, Tenya! Where'd you disappear to?!"

Confusion rushed through Izuku. Tenya had disappeared? Why? He wasn't the kind of person to just run off whenever he felt like it, especially at a time like this.

"Shit, look out!" Another hero yelled as the flying Noumu suddenly flew above the flames, the gusts of wind from its wings feeding the fire and blowing it towards Manuel and the other hero. The water couldn't cover it all at once.

Without thinking, Izuku bolted over and ignited his hands with All Flare, getting between the two heroes and the flames. He held his arms up and intercepted the fire, transmuting and blocking it before making it all dissipate as he cut the power off.

"Who the hell-"

"Wait, you're Tenya's classmate!" Manual grabbed his shoulder and spun Izuku around, causing him to yelp. The Pro looked at him steadily. "Listen, thanks for that, but I need you to go and find Tenya! I don't know where he went! You can do that, right?! Get the civilians away from here and find him!"

Izuku nodded, too rush to form a reply. He ran off as quickly as he came, mind racing. _Hosu City's so big…where could he be?! Where do I even start to…_

His blood suddenly chilled as he pieced it all together with a growing sense of horror. Hosu City. Tenya, who would normally never run off from a dire situation like this, leaving the scene without even a word. This was the city where his older brother had been almost killed…

 _By the Hero Killer._

"No," he breathed hoarsely. Izuku let Overdrive rush across his body as he started to race through the streets, trying to narrow down the places where Tenya might encounter the infamous villain.

 _It'll be somewhere isolated where there aren't any people! Somewhere away from the center of the commotion!_

 _An alleyway!_

Izuku checked the closest alleys as fast as he could, running without stopping for just over two minutes before he glanced down one of them and two figures: One with a sword in his hand above the other, who was motionless on the ground in a suit of armor.

Electricity rushed through his veins as he lunged into the alley, jumping from wall to wall and propelling himself forward in a blur of motion. The man holding the sword up flickered his gaze towards Izuku, having spotted or sensed him, but not in time to avoid the blow that came from the teenager.

 _"I found you!"_ Izuku roared.

A fist of heated, thrumming energy was driven into Stain's face, singing and shocking his skin even as the impact blew his body away from Tenya. He managed to regain his balance and skidded to a stop, lifting a hand to hold his jaw for a moment as he stared at Izuku in surprise.

Izuku landed in front of Tenya's prone form and glared back at the Hero Killer. He didn't dare take his eyes off the villain, so was relieved when Tenya spoke- Izuku had feared the worst.

"Izuku…" Tenya groaned, blood pooling from a puncture wound in his left shoulder. "What…what are you doing here?"

"I came to save you!" Izuku answered, readying himself for the fight of his life. He studied the Hero Killer carefully as the villain's sharp eyes began to assess the new arrival. "I remember reading that 60% of the Hero Killer's victims were found in isolated places away from lots of people like alleyways."

Stain felt surprise run through him again as he realized exactly who he was looking at. _He's that guy Shigaraki wanted to kidnap. Seeing him now with that Quirk…I see. So that's it. He's the one causing all the uproar lately. This brat is Heat Viper's kid!_

Izuku tensed as Stain righted himself and directed his voice back to Tenya. "Can you move? We should get to a bigger street and find the Pros."

"I can't move," Tenya growled in frustration. "It must be his Quirk…ever since I was cut, my body hasn't been able to do anything…"

"I thought that might be how his Quirk worked, but…" Izuku's eyes widened as he spotted another person leaning against the wall of the alley. It was a Pro hero- Native, he remembered from the Native American-style costume. He grit his teeth. If it had just been Tenya, he could've escaped by carrying him, but two people was out of the question.

"Izuku, don't interfere," Tenya's voice was edged with something vicious, which startled his friend. "That bastard is mine…I'll get him myself!"

He was overwhelmed with rage for his brother. Izuku had never seen Tenya like this, but he knew that the other teen was in no state to fight at the moment. He'd just be killed by Stain, something Izuku had no intention of letting happen.

He shifted his position more to the side to conceal his right hand, pulling his phone out behind his back and swiping to his contacts as quickly as he could from memory. He sent his location to all of his contacts and then pocketed the device as Stain's expression became threatening again.

"You came to save him?" Stain snarked. "That's a good line. Unfortunately, I have a duty to kill him. Should you stand between him and I…"

His red eyes glowed with malice. "Of course, it is the weak that shall be culled. So…what will you do?"

Izuku felt his skin crawl and every instinct he had screamed to escape. This guy was in a different class from the League of Villains at USJ. He was a murderer to his very core and had absolutely no qualms about killing them if they got in his way.

But he couldn't just leave Tenya and Native to die. No matter how scared he was, he had to save them somehow. Even if it had just been suspicion that Tenya had found the Hero Killer, he should have tried to get a Pro to come with him, but that was besides the point now. He'd have to hold out until help came. But if he was given the chance, he'd put the Hero Killer down himself.

"Stop!" Tenya demanded. "Izuku, run away! This doesn't have anything to do with you!"

"If heroes listened to that, they wouldn't be able to do anything!" Izuku retorted. "Besides, it's just like All Might says: Meddling when you don't need to is the core of being a hero!"

Stain's eyes went wide as a large grin covered his face. "That's good!"

* * *

 **A/N: Geez, from an Inheritance rush to a My Hero Academia rush...you can thank the season three anime premiere for that! I want to get the series caught up with the anime so I can update alongside it! There'll be another chapter out before too long- perhaps Friday if I find the time or earlier- to wrap up the Hero Killer arc, maybe two or three chapters for the exams, and then chapter 23 or 24 will match the start of season three! Roller coaster time, people! I hope you're ready for a wild ride!**

 **Special thanks to Walk the Max Planck for helping me hash out a lot of how Izuku's Quirk fusion works!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	19. The Hero Killer Stain

_Chapter Nineteen: The Hero Killer Stain_

Izuku made the first move.

He rushed at Stain, a blur of emerald heat and arcing lightning. The Hero Killer slashed at him with the sword in his right hand in an attempt to intercept him, recognizing that Izuku would want to get close to him to counter his wider reach. He left hand grabbed a dagger at his waist to catch Izuku in the crossfire of both blades, but as Izuku closed the gap, he dove between Stain's legs and came out behind him.

Stain spun around with another swipe of his blade, but he felt surprise go through him when he found Izuku wasn't there. He caught a glimpse of green above him and his eyes shot up- Izuku had jumped as soon as he was behind Stain, positioning himself above and behind his enemy. Stain grinned widely. The kid was smart!

"5% Detroit Smash!" Izuku yelled, pounding his fist into the back of Stain's head with all the force he could muster. The blow sent Stain sprawling, but Izuku wasn't done. He knew better than to give this psychopath a break.

Still in midair, he flipped forward, intending to drive his foot into the man's back. But as he came down, Stain lunged to one side with incredible reflexes, regaining his footing with a few quick steps. Izuku landed and faced him again, preparing to charge once more.

He felt a sudden sting on his arm and glanced down quickly, eyes widening as he spotted a small cut- a graze so slight he'd almost missed it. Stain had cut him. But why wasn't he paralyzed like Tenya or Native?

His gaze whipped back to Stain as he charged again and saw the villain lifting his knife up to his mouth. Izuku saw a drop of his blood on the dagger's edge and realized in an instant what was going on. _It's blood! It's not the cut, he has to take in my blood to stop me from moving!_

Izuku swung a fist as fast as he could, trying to stop Stain from whatever it was he was doing. He guessed for a moment that the villain had to ingest it orally to take away his movements given how he was trying to lick the blood up.

Izuku was just a fraction faster. Although he didn't touch the dagger, his Overdrive cloak did- it released a spark through the metal which shot out the other side and stung the Hero Killer's tongue, which was a fraction of an inch away. The shock made Stain recoil in surprise; it wasn't strong, but it jolted him away from the blade for a crucial moment.

Another punch was driven into Stain's face, smashing the back of his head into the wall of the building behind him. Stunned, Izuku was able to grab his wrist and twisted it, forcing him to drop the knife. It clattered to the ground and the drop of blood on its edge splattered.

Snarling, Stain kicked at him with his spiked shoes, forcing Izuku to dart back. The Hero Killer leapt away from the wall, putting some distance between them as he regrouped and tried to figure out what had just happened.

 _He shocked me? That doesn't make any sense; his Quirk is fire, not electricity! So what's with the lightning?_

Looking at him, Stain wasn't really sure what to make of it. Izuku's body wasn't covered in any typical fire, even with the color being different from normal- the lightning arcing from his arms, legs, and the flowing horns atop his head said that much.

 _Is he making plasma somehow?_ Stain wondered as the teenager charged him again with a scowl. He put the thought aside; it didn't matter. He needed to put this guy out of commission before one of the fakes regained their mobility or someone else showed up.

Izuku grabbed a broken pipe off the ground with a snarl and swung it to meet Stain's ragged sword as the villain slashed again. Having blocked the Hero Killer's attack, he realized the man was crouching in preparation to jump. Reacting as fast as he could, Izuku's leg came up and delivered an unforgiving kick between Stain's legs.

Stain howled and stumbled back, eyes bulging in fury as Izuku continued to rush him relentlessly with another swing of the pipe. All he had to do was drive the bastard away or knock his ass out- either would work as long as he got him away from Tenya and Native.

But Stain was _done_ screwing around. That kick had fucking _hurt_ and he was ready for this damn kid to go down and stay down.

With a burst of speed, he propelled himself backward, causing Izuku's missed swing to throw him off-balance. In an instant, Stain rushed forward and drove another dagger into Izuku's right shoulder.

Izuku screamed, but he was able to react; oh, it hurt like all hell and then some, but it was _mild_ compared to shattering his arms with One for All.

Stain couldn't believe his eyes when Izuku grabbed his head with both hands as his face twisted into an agonized snarl. Screaming at the top of his lungs, he raised the temperature of his Overdrive cloak as fast as he could and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. This time, the Hero Killer's scream echoed through the alley.

He recoiled from Izuku, clutching at his skull in pain. The teenager staggered back and pulled the dagger free of his shoulder with a gasp.

Izuku was about to rush Stain again when he felt his legs weaken with numbness. His heart lurched. _Not now!_

Stain's gaze flew up to Izuku, insane with rage and the absolute desire to kill his perceived targets. In a blur of speed, the Hero Killer rushed by Izuku, clotheslining him with a blow to the throat. Izuku's head slammed into the pavement below and sent black spots dancing across his eyes. The Overdrive cloak disappeared a moment later.

Panting and still obviously in pain, Stain glared back at Izuku where he lay on the ground, flicking his sword to nick the boy's arm. He drew the blade up to his mouth and licked the blood, immediately forcing paralysis upon Izuku.

"You're good for a kid, I'll give you that. There's value in letting someone like you live. You're different from these other guys. To think the kid of a big-shot villain like Heat Viper would have the qualities of a hero and the little brother of a so-called Pro wouldn't, hah! That's some fucking irony!"

"Ugh…Izuku tried to push himself up, but he was completely paralyzed. Nothing was responding save his eyes and mouth. Heart pounding, he could only watch as Stain made his way over to the still-immobilized Tenya and raised his blade again. "St-stop!"

There was a roar like a rush of hot air, then Stain was jumping into the air above a stream of fire. He landed a few paces away from Tenya and glared at the new arrival with annoyance. "It's one thing after another today…my work keeps getting interrupted."

Another teenager had joined the fray, his left side alight in fire as he pocketed his phone. "Izuku, when you send something like this, you give more information. Now I'm late!"

"Shoto!" Izuku almost wanted to cry in relief.

Tenya stared at the newcomer with wide eyes. "Why are you here?"

"Why? That's my line!" He retorted, leveling his gaze on the shifty form of the Hero Killer. "All you did was send your location, so it took me a few seconds to figure it out. But you aren't the kind of person to just send that at random, so I figured you were asking for help."

Shoto got between Stain and the two paralyzed heroes on the ground, unleashing a stream of ice along the concrete in an attempt to trap the villain. Stain leapt away, avoiding it with ease and putting some extra distance between them. Shoto followed up with another thrown fireball. "Don't worry, in a few minutes, the Pros will be here, too! In the meantime, I'm not going to let you kill these guys!"

Izuku shouted to him from his spot on the ground. "Shoto, don't let that guy get any of your blood! I think he paralyzes people by ingesting their blood orally!"

"That's what the blades are for, huh?" Shoto muttered, preparing another heat blast. In a sudden flash of movement that he barely caught, a dagger was thrown at his face. He barely managed to keep it from hitting his eye, but it still sliced open his left cheek.

The Hero Killer let out a laugh. "You've got some good friends, Ingenium!"

Stain rushed him, slashing with another dagger that Shoto blocked by creating a pillar of ice. The Hero Killer glanced up for a moment and Shoto followed his gaze, realizing that he'd thrown his sword high into the air. Thinking that the weapon was the real attack, Shoto was almost too late to react when Stain grabbed him by the shirt and tried to lick the blood off his cheek.

He'd never made his skin ignite so fast in his entire life. Stain was forced to retreat from the blaze lest he get burned and jumped again as Shoto launched another stream of ice at him. The Hero Killer slashed through some of it with his sword, but Shoto continued pushing him back.

 _That was close!_ Shoto's jaw clenched as he watched the villain warily, launching volleys of ice and fire at him to keep Stain away.

"Why are you two doing this!?" Tenya demanded on the ground. "Please stop! I…I've inherited my brother's name. It has to be me! I have to do it!"

"You inherited it? That's odd," Shoto retorted. "I don't remember Ingenium ever having that expression on his face. I know that you've got a lot going on behind the scenes with your family, too. But even so…"

Stain suddenly blew away another one of Shoto's ice waves with a flurry of slashes from his sword. "Blocking your own view against an opponent faster than you is a foolish plan!"

"Think so?" Shoto's left side ignited again to fire at Stain now that the villain was in midair, but he yelled in pained surprise as a pair of thrown daggers buried themselves into his left arm. Cringing from the shock, he let his guard down enough for Stain to jump so he could come down on Native with his sword at the ready.

"You're a good one, too!" Stain declared to Shoto, eyes fixed on his victim.

But the Hero Killer was suddenly yanked back as someone grabbed his hair from behind and pulled hard. Stain grunted as his neck arched painfully and then he was being thrown away.

He flipped to regain his balance and scowled once he landed- Izuku was back on his feet. _On top of being annoying as all hell to fight, this guy's blood type is O?_

"I can move normally again," Izuku gasped as he retreated back to Shoto.

"A time limit?" Shoto queried.

"No, that can't be it," Native protested. "He was the last one to go down. I got tagged first and I still can't move…"

Izuku chewed on his lip as he thought about it. "He takes in a persons blood and stops their movements. Since I got free first, I can think of three possibilities: the effect might be thinner with multiple people, the amount ingested could affect how it works, or there could be a difference in potency based on a person's blood type."

Stain couldn't help but grin. Jesus _fuck,_ this kid was a golden egg if he'd ever seen one. On top of proving himself to have the spine and motive of a real hero, he was smart as a whip. He'd never met anyone who could break down his Quirk so fast, let alone in the heat of a fight. "Good guess. Blood type is the right answer!"

Izuku flexed his arms, testing the feeling in them and his legs before frowning- he wasn't going to be able to stay in Overdrive for very much longer without the numbness completely debilitating him. But now that Shoto was here…

He let his Overdrive envelop his body and glanced at Shoto. "Mind giving me a boost?"

"You gonna hijack my Quirk again?" Shoto asked as he let his left side ignite.

"Not this time," Izuku said.

Shoto let a surge of his fire loose at Izuku, who quickly transmuted the flames and gave himself a not insignificant amount of fire to abuse. The Overdrive coating remained the same, but now Izuku had a ring of emerald fire swirling around him and Shoto.

Stain eyed them warily. "Two on one. Won't be easy, I see."

"Support me from the back, I'll keep him at a distance and try to knock him out!" Izuku told Shoto.

Shoto nodded. "That's a big risk, but I can't think of anything better. The two of us just have to protect them until the Pros show up."

Izuku rushed Stain again, holding his left hand out to his side to guide the emerald flames in a stream behind him. He flung them at the villain, who flipped over them and tried to slash at Izuku's head, but was blocked by more of Shoto's ice. Scowling, Stain regained his balance only for Izuku's fist to smash into the base of his spine.

The breath was driven from Izuku's lungs as Stain's heel flew back and slammed into his chest, scratching him with one of the metal spikes. Before the Hero Killer could spin around to take him down again, Shoto unleashed another stream of fire to force him away. It gave Izuku a moment to recover so he could leap back into the fray.

"Please…" Tenya cried, hot tears streaming down his face. "Both of you…you shouldn't be bleeding for this…it's my duty to…"

"I've been worried about you ever since I heard your brother was attacked," Shoto stopped him, watching as Izuku and Stain battled to look for any opportunity to attack or defend. "I know what it's like to have all that pent-up resentment inside of you and how much it screws with you. It narrows your view until you can't focus on anything but getting payback."

"You want us to stop? Then get up! Set your eyes on what you want to be!"

Izuku let out a yelp as Stain dove under a stream of green fire and came up to slam the butt of his sword into the boy's temple, stunning him and forcing his body out of Overdrive. As he fell, the Hero Killer rushed towards Shoto, brandishing his weapon for a killing blow. He ducked and weaved past the flurry of ice crystals that were meant to stop him and made it past Shoto's guard in a matter of seconds. "Has anyone ever told you? You're too focused on your Quirk! You're careless!"

There was a flicker of motion and Stain's eyes widened in surprise as the sound of metal shattering sang through the air. He realized Tenya was back on his feet, having shot forward with his Recipro to deliver a powerful kick. The force of the blow broke Stain's sword in half and Tenya was quick to follow up with another kick that the villain barely managed to block with his arms.

Stain was launched away from Shoto and regained his footing once more, baring his teeth angrily. _Dammit!_

Shoto let out a nervous breath as he glanced from Tenya to Stain. "You got free. His Quirk isn't as powerful as I thought."

Tenya wiped the mess of tears from his face and swallowed. "Izuku, Shoto, this has nothing to do with you, and for that I apologize."

Izuku threw his friend a slightly exasperated look from his place on the ground. "You're still saying that?"

"I'm sorry," Tenya choked out. "I don't want to see you two bleed for my sake anymore."

Stain's grip on his ruined sword tightened and the veins in his face bulged slightly. "Quit the reformation act. You're making me sick. People don't change so easily- no matter what you say now, you will never be anything more than a fake who prioritizes his own selfish desires. You're a cancer to society that poisons the name 'hero'. Someone has to set you right."

"You're an anachronistic fundamentalist," Shoto snapped, rejecting the psychopath's words immediately. "Tenya, ignore him. He's trying to get a rise out of you."

"No, he's right," Tenya shook his head stiffly. "I don't have the right to call myself a hero for acting out of vengeance. But I cannot surrender here- if I did, then Ingenium would die!"

Stain's expression became one of utter loathing. "Out of the question!"

He lunged at them, but had to dart away when Shoto launched a stream of flames at him. Izuku was still trying to recover from getting hit in the head by Stain's sword and had to remain down for a few more moments to stop the world from spinning.

Native yelled at them. "You guys have to get out of here! He's after me and the kid in armor! You need to run away!"

"I don't think he's gonna give us a chance to!" Shoto retorted, his eyes never leaving Stain's form as the Hero Killer began to rush about in agitation. "Something changed just now. He's flustered!"

Izuku managed to force himself to his hands and knees- even with his head still blurry, he knew what was going on with Stain. There's the uncertain element of blood type and the risk of having to get in close to make it work. On top of that, it doesn't last very long. Looking at just his Quirk, he's not that strong…Taking on multiple opponents at once must be difficult for him, but now he's gotten desperate trying to kill Tenya and Native before the Pros show up. His tenacity is insane! Anyone else would've turn and left it as a lost cause by now!

Tenya was about to jump into the fight, but he felt his engine stalling and glanced down at his legs. _Did I break the radiator with that last kick?_

An idea suddenly came to his head and he turned to Shoto in an instant. "Shoto, can you adjust temperature?!"

"I can't do it well with my left side yet, why?!"

"Freeze my legs without plugging the exhaust!" Tenya demanded, causing Shoto to look at him in confusion. That brief glance gave Stain an opening to throw a pair of knives at him. Tenya threw himself in front of Shoto, taking the blades hilt-deep in his right arm.

"Tenya!"

"Just do it!"

Stain leapt high into the air by jumping from wall to wall, intending to dive on the teenagers from above while Shoto was freezing Tenya's legs. But as he prepared to go down, his eyes caught sight of Izuku regaining his footing. The boy stood up and with a upwards tilt of his chin, let the plasma of Overdrive flow over his body again.

He bared his teeth and charged up a little too much energy into his legs to propel himself at the Hero Killer in the air. He swung a fist at the villain, who managed to twist his body to avoid the blow to his head. Stain glanced down just in time to see Tenya rocketing up towards him.

"Recipro Extend!" Tenya roared, the engines on his legs flaring blue heat as he flew up to Stain with such speed the Hero Killer couldn't react in time. A vicious, unforgiving kick pulverized Stain's ribs, followed by a second blow with Tenya's knee into his face. The double impact drove them apart a ways, giving Shoto the opening he needed.

Shoto's left side flared up in an instant and he unleashed a stream of fire at the villain. Stain responded on instinct, just enough to twist and avoid the flames. He howled in fury at the teenager. _"Missed!"_

Unexpectedly, Shoto grinned. _"Did I?"_

Stain suddenly realized he'd forgotten about Izuku still above him. He twisted his head in time to see Izuku transmute Shoto's flames from orange to emerald. His eyes were glowing green amongst the dark night sky and the fiery horns atop his head danced and sparked like twin ribbons. He was too close to miss.

Within seconds, Izuku had caught Shoto's flames, transmuted them, and hurled them right back down to smite Stain with all the heat he could muster. The villain was seared alive and lost consciousness immediately, the toll of his wounds and the incredible heat too much even for him.

Shoto managed to stop Izuku and Tenya hurting themselves from the fall by creating a slide of ice. He caught Stain on a crystal, keeping the villain away while they regrouped. But after a moment, it became clear that Stain was down.

The plasma covering Izuku's body dissipated as he groaned, looking up at Stain's prone form wearily. "He's…he's gotta be done after all that, right?"

Shoto sighed in relief, letting himself relax a bit. "Just to be safe, let's take his weapons off of him and find something to tie him up with."

"Sorry, that's on you guys," Izuku let his head fall back, his body going limp. "I can't move…everything's numb…"

"So you _did_ overdo things again." That was said rather dryly.

"My bad," Izuku replied jokingly, wincing at the painfully numb feeling in his arms and legs. Where he wasn't numb, his body throbbed painfully; Stain had not been a very forgiving enemy. The stab wound in his right shoulder _hurt_ and he felt dizzy again now that he'd stopped moving.

Shoto shook his head in mild exasperation. "I'll get him down. Tenya, can you see if you can find some rope or something around here?"

"Yeah," Tenya answered in a quiet voice.

A few minutes later, Shoto had frisked Stain and relieved him of any remaining weapons he had. He and Tenya had then tied the villain's arms behind his back with rope from a nearby rubbish heap to restrain him. During that time, Native regained the ability to move and helped out by putting Izuku on his back.

"Th-thanks," Izuku managed, feeling more exhausted than he had in a long time.

Native shook his head. "It's not a problem. I owe you one for saving me back there. As a Pro hero, I feel embarrassed that I couldn't help you guys at all. Not to mention the way the Hero Killer called me out for being less heroic than Heat Viper's kid…that stung. I don't mean that in an offensive way. Sorry, it's just frustrating."

"I don't mind," Izuku mumbled drowsily. "The guy wasn't much of a dad."

"Huh? What the hell are you doing here?!"

The four of them looked across the street to spot a little old man watching them dubiously. But upon seeing his charge on Native's back, Gran Torino shot forward and planted a foot in Izuku's face, making him yelp. "I told your uppity ass to stay on the train!"

Shoto blinked in confusion as he dragged the Hero Killer behind him with his good arm. "Who's this?"

"The hero I'm interning with," Izuku replied, eyes smarting from the reprimanding kick. "But why're you here?"

"I was told to come here!" Torino snapped. "Well, I don't know what's going on, but I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm sorry."

Torino rolled his eyes. _Geez, of course the aggravating trait he gets from Hisashi and Toshinori is THIS one!_

Soon after, they were set upon by a group of heroes from Endeavor's office, who figured out the situation quickly and sorted out calling an ambulance for the teenagers and the police to take the Hero Killer into custody. In the end, their battle with Stain had only lasted for something like ten minutes. Izuku still couldn't walk, so he was sat down and propped up until the numbness wore away.

Torino sighed. "You pushed yourself too far, huh?"

"Yeah," Izuku winced. "Barely ten minutes of using Overdrive made me like this. If it went on any longer, I would've been useless…"

"Your body is meant to resist heat, not plasma," Torino said quietly, standing in front of him. "You'll have to get in touch with the support office to see about finding some kind of insulation to protect you from those effects. If this is what it does to you at just 5%, going any further with it without precautions might do a lot more than just numb you up."

The boy just nodded, too exhausted to say otherwise. He looked up at Shoto, who glanced down at him and inclined his head slightly. Izuku understood; they'd talk later.

Tenya approached his friends and bowed his head as his body trembled with emotion. "I'm sorry, you two. I…I couldn't see past my anger…and you two bled for it…"

Izuku smiled at him somberly. "I'm sorry, too. I should've realized how badly you were hurting."

Shoto nodded and set a hand on Tenya's shoulder, squeezing it in a friendly way. "Pull yourself together. You're _Ingenium,_ aren't you?"

Tenya wiped his eyes with his good arm. "Yes…"

Gran Torino shifted slightly and caught sight of something in the air- something flying down at them. He shouted a warning. "Get down!"

Before they could process what was happening, the flying Noumu from the earlier fight had descended in a blur of speed and grabbed Izuku in its clawed legs. With a mighty flap of its wings, it shot back into the air, intent on escaping with its prey.

"Izuku!" Shoto yelled in alarm.

A splash of warm red hit Tenya's face. "Blood? Did he fly here after fighting?!"

Torino was trying to measure the distance as he prepared to shoot off in pursuit. _Oh no, if he gets too high, I won't catch them!_

The sound of a switchblade flicking open and ropes tearing behind them made everyone freeze, even as _something_ licked the blood from Tenya's face and bolted towards the Noumu as it started to fall. A wraith of shadows moved in a blur of speed, leaping high into the air with a dagger at the ready.

 _"This society ridden with fake heroes…and the villains who wave their power around idly…SHOULD ALL BE PURGED!"_

A spray of blood curtained the air as Stain drove his blade hilt-deep into Noumu's brain, killing it instantly. The beast was slammed into the ground and skidded along the concrete before coming to a stop. Stain held Izuku by the back of his costume, having saved him from hitting the ground.

Izuku felt a sense of horror crawl down his spine as he realized that Stain had just murdered someone without hesitating, even if it had been to save him. The villain tore his dagger free of the body and staggered, spittle drooling from his gaping mouth as he tried to regain his breath. "This is all…for the sake of…a more just society…"

The heroes still grouped together were stunned for a moment and prepared to act when someone called to them. "What are you lot doing? The villain should have flown this way!"

They spun towards the voice to find Endeavor running into the street to evaluate the situation. His eyes locked onto the figure of Stain and the dead Noumu, realizing in an instant who he was looking at.

Stain spotted the number two hero out of the corner of his eye and turned towards him with a raspy breath. "Endeavor…"

"The Hero Killer!" Endeavor sneered triumphantly, readying a blaze in his hand.

Torino held a hand out frantically. "Wait!"

The call gave Endeavor pause; pause just enough for Stain to turn towards them as his mask fell off of his face. Beneath it lay a kind of fury only madness could spark, all the more intimidating for the flat, twin slits between his eyes- the remnants of his severed nose.

 _"Another phony!"_

Even half-dead as he was, the intensity of his voice, his bloodlust, and his utter hatred sent icy cold flowing through the veins of even the most veteran hero present. They all reared away from Stain instinctively as he staggered towards them, blood and spittle dripping from his mouth with every unsteady step like a fiend possessed. Even Endeavor stepped away from him hesitantly.

 _"I must set things right…someone must be stained in blood…I must take back what it means to be a hero! Come on! Just try and get me, you fakes! The only one allowed to kill me is the true hero! ALL MIGHT!"_

The air around him felt oppressive, as though death itself were pressing upon them with the gleeful knowledge that it held their lives in its grasp and could claim them with ease. Their hearts pounded and the blood roared in their ears at the sight of the bloody demon snarling at them with a red-tinted moon behind him. Every step closer made them shiver in fear-

-the sharp sound of metal striking concrete snapped them out of it. Gran Torino stared at Stain warily and realized that his eyes were sightless and his body showed no signs of moving any further.

"He's…unconscious…"

Shoto and Tenya fell back onto the ground, eyes wide and barely able to breathe. Izuku couldn't even find it in himself to remain propped up on his arms and fell back onto the street, his eyes fixing themselves on the sky. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and let himself go limp with relief.

It was over.

* * *

"Shit!" Tomura snapped angrily, making his binoculars crumble into dust out of frustration. Aggravated, he began to scratch his neck furiously. "He kills that Noumu and stops it from bringing me that kid! There's so much I want to say I can't even keep up! Why the hell won't things go my way?!"

Kurogiri merely remained silent as he regarded his charge. The other two Noumu had also been captured after they were subdued by Endeavor and Gran Torino.

Tomura was done with Hosu. He grunted to Kurogiri. "Let's go back."

"Are these results to your satisfaction?"

"Dumbass. That depends on tomorrow."

* * *

Izuku rubbed his face tiredly. Even though he'd slept throughout the night and most of the day, he was still physically and mentally exhausted from the Hosu incident. The aftermath was still a lot to cope with.

He, Tenya, and Shoto had all been treated for their wounds, but there was some lasting damage. Tenya's arms had been affected the worst by the stab wounds and he had permanent damage- it wouldn't exceed more than some difficulty moving his fingers and hands, as well as some numbness, but it was still bad news. Although there was the chance the damage could be repaired with nerve transplant surgery, Tenya insisted on keeping his arms that way until he felt he'd redeemed himself for acting so selfishly to find the Hero Killer.

Thankfully, Izuku and Shoto didn't have lasting damage beyond some rather nasty looking scars, but they were confined to the hospital for a day while a doctor analyzed some tests he'd taken to check for anything else. In the end, they'd been lucky.

Unfortunately, that wasn't all. The head of police at Hosu arrived with Gran Torino and Manual, informing the boys that they wouldn't be able to claim credit for taking down Stain since they didn't have a hero license. If they insisted on claiming their victory over him, the police would be forced to charge them with vigilantism and they'd have a permanent mark on their records. But they offered an alternative; the burns on Stain's body would suggest that Endeavor had fought him instead, so he could claim the credit and the boys would get off scot-free.

It was frustrating and unfair, but they knew there was only one choice. They had to be grateful that the police were extending this offer to them at all; they had every right to arrest the teenagers for what they did, even if it was the right thing. They had to be strict on heroes to make sure the didn't abuse the power they had, after all. So it was with thankful reluctance that the boys took the offer and agreed to never say anything about their defeat of Stain.

Now Izuku was sitting in the hospital cafeteria, sitting at a window-side table alone while he poked at his food. He was still so tired…using Overdrive took so much out of him. It would take a lot of training before he could use it without exhausting himself to maintain the fusion. Not only that, but he had to get in touch with the support course to adjust his suit so it could insulate him against plasma. He had to call his mother to let her know that he was alright- no doubt the hospital had informed her already that he was with them.

No rest for the weary, right?

His phone started buzzing suddenly and he closed his eyes, doing a mental count of three to reign in his patience before he answered it. "Hello?"

 _"Deku! Are you okay?!"_

He was wide awake all of a sudden at the sound of Ochako's panicky voice in his ear. Of all the people to call him, he hadn't expected her. "U-um?! Yes, I-I-"

 _"Gunhead showed us the news article this morning! It said you and Tenya were attacked by the Hero Killer!"_

"I-I'm fine, r-really!" He stammered. "I mean, yeah, we got hurt a bit, but we're fine now!"

 _"How much is a bit? You've gotten some really bad injuries before!"_

"Um…" He bit his lip hesitantly. Telling her they all got stabbed was probably not the solution he needed. How to tell her without making her freak out more…

"Nothing near as bad as the Sports Festival…We'll have some scars, but we all came out of it alright. Aside from that, just some cuts and bruises."

 _"I see…"_ She let out an audible breath. _"I'm glad you two are okay. When I got your message with just your location, it really made me nervous."_

"I'm sorry I worried you. There was so much going on, I couldn't get in touch with anyone."

 _"No, it's okay. Make sure you rest a lot and you can tell me about it later, okay?"_

"I will," Izuku agreed. Or as much as he could, anyways…

He heard someone in the background- something about starting basic training- and Ochako replied to them frantically before returning to the call. _"Sorry, I gotta go! I'll see you at school, bye!"_

"Bye," Izuku responded as the call ended. He removed the phone from his ear and stared at it for about five seconds before the reality of what had just happened sunk in.

He'd had a phone call with a girl. A real, live, actual girl that he kind of liked. Heat blossomed over his face as his eyes grew wide and his freckles almost disappeared beneath a heavy crimson.

 _Hoooooly_ _shit._

"Izuku? Are you okay?"

He jumped and whipped his head up at the voice, fanning his face to clear the blush from his cheeks. Shoto was staring at him dubiously with a food tray in his hands, probably wondering if it was okay to sit across from the flustered teenager. "Uh! Wha- yes! I mean, I'm okay! Totally okay!"

"If you say so," Shoto didn't sound like he really believed him, but it wasn't his business, so he didn't pry as he took a seat across from him. It was quiet for a few minutes as he ate and Izuku settled down, but it wasn't an awkward kind of quiet- it was relaxed and one might even say peaceful.

Eventually, Shoto broke the silence. "We should probably talk."

Izuku inclined his head in agreement. "Mm."

* * *

"Izuku Midoriya!" Gran Torino muttered over the phone. He could practically hear Toshinori's body shaking and he was completely alright with that- he _should_ be nervous! "Over the course of three days, he gets my pay cut and my teaching license revoked for half a year! Well, given the circumstances I guess it's only natural, but he's picked up all of your bad habits!"

Toshinori gulped. "I can't apologize enough, sir. My teaching has been inadequate…"

"It hardly matter," Torino replied. "I only got my teaching license to train your sorry ass. I promised Nana, after all."

"And I'm indebted to you for your training. I am who I am today because of you!"

"You say that, but you never visit!"

"No, no! I could never waste your valuable time!"

"Enough of that," Torino rolled his eyes. "I didn't call you for this. I called because of the Hero Killer. I was only around him for a couple of minutes, but he sent a chill down my spine in that short amount of time."

"Frightening you is no small feat," Toshinori admitted. "But he's in police custody now, right?"

"He had such an intense conviction that it momentarily overwhelmed me. His obsessive fixture was incredible. I'm not praising him, but it reminded me of that same quality you have- that whole "Symbol of Peace" thing. In short, it's charisma."

"For better or for worse, the age we live in is one of oppression. When his ideology gets out, and it _will_ get out, people who have been influenced by that environment will start to gather together. If it was one after another, it'd be no different than what happened to Stain, but now the Villain Alliance is becoming associated with this."

Toshinori stiffened, understanding quickly where this was going.

"They've got a place to go to, now," Torino warned. "The Villain Alliance has appeared to be a group that follows Stain's ideology. They're not going to look like some delinquent organization anymore, other villains will start to take them seriously and join them. It won't take long before those specks of evil swell up until they're swarming as a unit."

There was a pause. "If the enemy general knew this would happen, then he's pretty good."

"…I don't want to imagine a reality where he survived that injury."

"He's steadily moving obstacles away, setting the pieces on the board the way he wants. Just as he did before. The man who killed Nana and put that hole in your gut…All for One is probably starting to move again. Toshinori…"

 _"You know he's going to come for Izuku next."_

Toshinori almost crushed his phone as his face twisted into a snarl. _"Over my dead body!"_

* * *

 **A/N: Things are starting to get real, huh? I might actually catch up to the anime before the next episode drops at this rate. I've just been really motivated to write this story. Heck, I might even have another chapter up before the week is up. Sheesh, I spoil you guys XD**

 **I think that's it, so please review and thanks for reading!**


	20. Old Ghosts

_Chapter Twenty: Old Ghosts_

The room was dark and quiet, only the hum of computer monitors keeping it from being completely silent. Sitting before them was the villain known as All for One. His doctor was currently in another room working on other projects, but he himself was waiting to receive some important information.

The corners of his lips curved up fractionally, the barest hint of a smile. Izuku Midoriya…Tomura's lucky discovery had turned out to be rather amusing for him. Had All Might taken him in to prevent All for One from getting to him first? Or did he actually think the boy could be trained to be a hero capable of defeating the League of Villains?

The irony of the situation was not lost on him; One for All raising Izuku and All for One raising Tomura. Well, perhaps not for much longer.

Izuku was at that same critical age Hisashi had been when All for One brought him over to his side. So very…fragile…pliable…so easy to shape with the right guidance, like clay. All for One had spent a long time mastering the way of manipulating people and he had it down to an art. Hisashi and Tomura were but two of his masterpieces; Izuku would become another as long as he was patient.

Oh, he didn't have to succeed immediately; forcing someone to follow you or cornering them would only incite rebellion. No, no…the best artists took their time, letting the world do the shaping for them as they added delicate strokes of paint to the canvas…a dash of hope here, a touch of despair there…With patience, one could twist the perception of reality with their art. All he would need was time. And time was something he had no shortage of.

The smile on his face spread. Oh, how he wished All Might lived long enough to see his beloved student standing beside All for One- as All Might's enemy. If nothing else, he would find it amusing. Should Izuku prove to be strong enough, he might even _kill_ All Might…Well, perhaps he was getting too into his imagination now. Twisting Izuku that far was going to take a while.

He was removed from his thoughts as he sensed his guest arrive; Kurogiri, appearing in the room a distance away through his warping portal. The misty villain was silent as he bowed to the back of the chair. "Sir."

"Talk."

"The information…is good."

All for One inclined his head slightly. He'd been dubious at first, he'd admit (although he was a dubious person by his very nature), but it seemed as though Izuku's reveal at the Sports Festival had shaken the world more than even he had anticipated. Well, that was all the better for him. Stain had worked out in his favor, but that had been mere luck; there was still footage of Stain killing one of the Noumus. Although he was being called an ally of the League of Villains, there was still a chance some of the more intelligent villains out there might not see it that way.

Stain was the prologue…or rather, the preface. They had yet to reach the premiere. For that, Tomura needed something more…concrete. Something beyond doubt.

This would do.

All for One uttered his decision.

"Make the preparations."

* * *

Almost a week after the events in Hosu City, Izuku returned to his apartment for the first time since he left for Gran Torino's internship. The days following the battle had been easygoing at best.

Izuku and Shoto had settled their differences, finding common ground in their mutual dislike of their fathers and care for their mothers. Shoto had expressed regret for how he'd treated Izuku at the Sports Festival, but the green-haired teen waved it off; he understood now what had been going through Shoto's head. He didn't take it personally.

Shoto had told him about everything that had happened to his family, from his father's attempts to get a successor worthy of taking All Might's place to his mother's fractured mental stability following that- including how she scarred his face. He'd gone to see her after the Sports Festival and the pair of them had reconciled. Shoto had hopes that in time, she might fully recover from Endeavor's treatment of her.

Izuku told Shoto in turn what being Heat Viper's child was like- how he knew nothing about his father, not even his appearance, and how unfair it felt to be seen as dangerous because of his crimes. How he never wanted anything to do with the man and how much it pained his mother to see her son become ostracized by people for his bloodline.

It was a lengthy conversation they spent hours having, coming to understand each other in a way that would've been impossible before. By the end of it, though, there was a sense of ease between them. Newfound respect and camaraderie.

Izuku sighed as he removed his shoes at the door and walked into the apartment. "Mom, I'm home!"

"Welcome home! We're in the kitchen!"

Izuku walked down the hall to the kitchen and glanced inside. "How are…"

He trailed off in surprise as he saw the last thing he expected in his house: All Might, in his muscle form, wearing a large, white apron over his shirt and pants and holding a rather large knife in his hand to cut vegetables. The apron had a picture of All Might's face on it at the chest which was surrounded by words in bold red and blue font saying, "The Cook Is Here!"

All Might held up his hand like a salute. "Welcome home, young Izuku!"

Izuku just blinked at him for a moment. "Hah?"

Inko peered out from behind the towering figure of All Might, who took up a large part of their kitchen, and smiled at her son largely. "Izuku! Welcome back! We'll have dinner ready in just a minute, okay? Eri's in the living room right now playing with her art stuff."

"Uh…" Izuku was trying to form a coherent sentence, but he wasn't really sure what to say. He'd been expecting a few surprises coming home because of some questions he wanted answered, but this wasn't exactly the kind of surprise he'd been anticipating at all…

"Izu!" His attention was taken by the sound of Eri running down the hall from the living room. He turned towards her and caught the girl as she leapt at him with a laugh. "You're home!"

"Hey, Eri," Izuku smiled as she threw her arms around his neck and squished her cheek against his. "Have fun?"

"Mmhm! I made a bunch of pictures!"

"I'll have to see them," Izuku promised her, holding the little girl against his hip as he looked back at his mother and All Might, who had returned to cooking. He was quiet as he regarded them; at the natural ease they seemed to have with each other. The questions he had were already bubbling up inside of him.

"Izu?" Eri poked his face with her finger gently, her expression curious. He noted that the horn on her head had shrunken some.

He nudged her forehead playfully with his nose, to which she giggled. "It's nothing, Eri. I'm just a little tired."

"Go ahead and put your bags in your room, honey," Inko told him as she took the vegetables All Might had chopped up and dumped them into a pot for stew. "We'll be done in just a moment."

He nodded and carried Eri away to their room, where he deposited his bags on the floor with a loud thump. He sat down on the bed and Eri shifted to crawl into his lap; Izuku smirked and fell back, making the girl squeal in surprise.

It was only now he realized that Eri was wearing a new All Might hoodie- one Izuku had planned on getting from a new merchandise line. It was a simpler style to how his products were usually made, just a comfy dark jacket with a zipper down the middle. On either side of the jacket were words that when lined up, would spell "All Might" and below them the words "Plus Ultra" by the pockets. It was one of the products developed after All Might announced his teaching position at U.A.

"Where'd you get that jacket?" Izuku asked Eri, booping her nose with his finger.

Eri giggled again and snuggled against her protector. "Mr. All Might gave it to me when he came over. He got one for you and Ms. Inko, too!"

"I see. Did you thank him?"

"Mmhm!"

Izuku smiled and gently tousled her white hair as she hugged him more tightly. He'd missed Eri. But at the same time…he wondered what was really going on with his mother and All Might. They knew each other and his father in high school. But that had been over twenty years ago…Why were they here now, acting like they'd known each other for forever?

"Kids, dinner is ready!"

"Coming!" He closed his eyes and inwardly sighed. He'd ask them about it after they'd eaten.

Dinner was rather entertaining that night; Inko and All Might asked Izuku how his internship was (though Inko was more concerned about the injuries Izuku had sustained from Stain) and he answered them as honestly as he could. He didn't go into graphic details while Eri was there- even though she had been through a lot before he'd found her, he didn't want to expose her to that kind of world any more than was necessary.

She was too precious to have to experience that kind of cruelty.

All Might gave him the hoodie Eri had mentioned and Izuku put it on gratefully. It was warm, soft, and clean- all things he really appreciated at the moment. He almost grew drowsy after wearing it for a little while.

As dinner ended and Eri became sleepy from a full belly and the amazing comfort her new hoodie offered, Izuku took her back to his room and tucked her in before returning to the kitchen, where All Might and Inko were cleaning up.

He stopped at the kitchen entrance and watched them work, tapping the wall with his fingers slightly as he thought about where he should begin. Inko spotted him and tilted her head. "Honey? Are you okay?"

All Might turned towards him and Izuku bit his lower lip for a moment. "Can we talk?"

Inko looked up at All Might silently, prompting him to nod. He suddenly shrank down to his normal form, groaning and rolling his shoulders. "Phew…"

Izuku hadn't been expecting him to just go into his true form in the middle of his house and _right in front of his mother_ and he was waving his hands in a panic before he could think. "M-mom! I-I-w-we can explain! Th-this is-"

"Izuku!" She cut him off with a quick exclamation. "Settle down!"

He stopped and suddenly he realized with a glance between the two of them that neither of them were surprised by this. Izuku stared at them in disbelief before he looked at his mother. "You…you _knew?!"_

Inko nodded, walking over to him to take her son by the hands. "Let's take this to the living room, okay?"

They sat down quietly, Inko and All Might on the couch while Izuku sat in the only chair across from them. He wasn't even sure how to say anything now- it was one thing for his mother to know All Might back in high school or even for All Might to just be at his house cooking when he got home, but…he wasn't sure what to say at this point. His mother knew about All Might's true form…

All Might twiddled his thumbs for a minute as he thought to himself, but eventually he broke the silence. "I know you've got questions. I want to answer them all, but there are some things that we…that your mother and I are still coming to terms with. We won't tell you everything yet. Can you accept that?"

Izuku's hands clenched the fabric of his pants. "I…I don't know. When I was with Gran Torino, he told me that you two knew each other and my…and _that guy_ in high school, but he didn't tell me anything else. I wanted to know why you never told me that, but now I…I'm even more confused. Mom, how do you know about All Might's secret?"

Inko glanced at All Might for a moment. "Toshinori and I have known each other since we were in high school, like you were told. I wasn't attending U.A, but I went to the Sports Festival when he and your father were first years and we met there. We all got along before we knew it and kept meeting up after that, sometimes for fun, other times to study."

"Although we all…grew apart for a time after that," her face became a little sad as she went on. "We never really forgot each other. When Toshinori was crippled five years ago, Gran Torino called me to see him while you were at school one day. I promised I wouldn't say anything, just like the others who know about it."

"Why didn't either of you tell me?" Izuku asked, his voice a little shaky. "Once I started attending U.A, why didn't you say anything?"

All Might- Toshinori clasped his hands in front of him as he leaned forward. "We didn't believe it was a good time to say anything. Ideally, we wanted you to have as normal a high school life as you could at U.A without all of our history on your shoulders…Your mother and I agreed it was probably best for you to remain in the dark until we felt you were ready. In fact, we weren't going to tell you for a while yet. After the Sports Festival, we wanted to give you some time to recover, but I didn't think to inform Torino that you didn't know anything about us. I'm sorry for deceiving you, Izuku, but it was what we thought was best for you."

"Honey," Inko said gently, her smile as loving as ever. "This is about _your_ life, not ours. The last thing we wanted was for you to be swept up in all this. It's not your burden to bear. By not telling you about our history together, we wanted to give you the opportunity to chase your dreams. I already feel so guilty that Hisashi's decisions have affected you every day for so long…We just didn't want to put any more pressure on you."

Izuku ran a hand through his hair, trying to come up with some way to respond. He understood what they were trying to do for him by not saying anything. He knew it was because they cared for his wellbeing, but at the same time it was just so…It felt like something huge had been kept from him for such a long time. Like some giant fabrication- a play where he was a puppet, blissfully unaware of his role in the story.

"Is that why you told me I could become a hero?" Izuku burst out suddenly, directing the question at Toshinori. "After the incident with the Sludge Villain when you came running after me…Was it really for my sake? What were you really trying to do?"

Toshinori looked at him sternly. "I went after you that day for the same reasons I told you before. Your selflessness to save Katsuki inspired me to act- at that moment, I knew you could become a hero. _You,_ Izuku. That decision had _nothing_ to do with your mother or your father. It was all _you_. If you didn't have what it took to be a hero, I would have said so. That's the honest truth."

Izuku's eyes flitted over to Inko. "How much of this did you know?"

"Toshinori didn't tell me until you made it into U.A that he'd started training you," Inko replied, casting a mildly annoyed look at the hero. Toshinori shifted in his seat, looking somewhat uncomfortable under her scrutiny- _that_ must have been an interesting conversation. Clearly he hadn't gotten away with keeping that particular bit of information from her unscathed. "But we talked about it and decided it was the best way for you to follow your dreams and become a hero, if that was what you really wanted to do."

The living room grew quiet for a short while. Toshinori studied Izuku before speaking again. "Does any of this make you regret coming to U.A?"

Izuku shook his head with a frown. "No, I just…It's just a lot to take in. I'm still trying to grasp that you two knew each other for so long…Why…I don't even know what I want to know, anymore."

Toshinori stood up and walked over to the chair Izuku sat in. He knelt down in front of him and took the boy's hands, squeezing them firmly. "Listen to me, okay? We aren't hiding things to hurt you- we don't want that weight on your shoulders. And we won't keep all these secrets from you forever…We _will_ tell you, but you shouldn't have to focus on it so much. You have your own life to live. All this history…you let us old folks worry about that. Whatever we do, we do it because we love you. Do you understand?"

Izuku felt his eyes sting and a lump rose in his throat as he nodded. Toshinori sighed, a fond smile growing on his face as he glanced from Izuku to Inko (who also looked ready to cry) and back to the teenager. "You two and your tear ducts…"

He stood up as the boy hugged him and Toshinori placed a hand on his head, his other arm wrapping around Izuku firmly. Inko came over and hugged Izuku from behind, sandwiching him between her and Toshinori.

It felt different to him. The warmth. The way it was so…natural. It lulled him, made him feel drowsy and safe…Before he knew it, he felt his whole body getting sleepy…his eyes closed of their own will…

Toshinori's amused snort barely roused him. "Gonna fall asleep on us?"

Izuku just nodded into his shirt, which was still a little damp from his tears. Vaguely, he was aware of Inko letting him go and then a moment later, he felt Toshinori's body bulk up. Then a pair of strong arms were lifting him off the floor, cradling him as he was carried away. He was being deposited on his bed and as the blankets shifted to cover him, he heard Eri whine in her sleep.

The hand that smoothed his hair back from his eyes was smaller than it had been a moment ago. He must've shifted back to his normal form after putting Izuku down. "Night, kiddo."

Izuku shifted onto his side, his arms coming up to bring Eri closer to him before he completely lost consciousness with a sleepy mumble. "Goodnight…"

Toshinori closed the bedroom door behind him, sparing one more moment to watch the two children sleeping peacefully before he shut it with a quiet click. He turned around to find Inko standing further down the hall, smiling as she wiped her eyes of tears.

"That went okay, right?" He asked quietly as he walked over to her. Even in his true form, he was still a lot taller than Inko.

She nodded, smiling at the floor. "I should make you come over more often if I get to see that."

Toshinori grinned slightly. "No objections here."

Inko looked past him at the door to Izuku's room. For a few moments, she was beside herself; unable to say anything. She shook her head as her smile quivered. "I'm sorry, I can't…I can't keep myself together. I felt _so_ _happy,_ seeing you carry him…"

Toshinori hesitantly reached towards her, barely laying his hand on her shoulder. Uncertain of where his boundaries lay. He moved a bit closer and Inko shifted to wrap her arms around him; he returned the gesture and let her cry in silence.

It made their hearts _ache_ …Joyful for what they had now…Grieving for what it had cost them to get here. _It_ _hurt_. But for better or for worse…it was a hurt they bore together.

* * *

Class 1-A gathered together at the start of the week for the first time since their internships ended. The room was alive with activity, something Izuku didn't mind for once. His lips had been curved up in a little smile all morning for some reason. He just felt…lighter. A little happier, somehow. He didn't say much; he just took a seat in his desk like usual and got his stuff ready for class, leaning his chin into his hand as he stared at nothing in particular.

"Um…Deku?" A hand suddenly waved in his face, bringing his attention to its owner. Ochako was standing there, blinking at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, sorry," he apologized as he looked at her. "I'm…yeah, I'm okay. Great, actually."

She smiled at him, leaning against the desk behind her as she tilted her head curiously. "Really? What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Well…" He paused and thought about it for a moment. "I don't really know. I just feel…good, I guess."

She laughed a little. "That's a little weird, but okay."

"How was your internship?"

"It was amazing! I learned so much from Gunhead! It opened up a whole new world of stuff for me to learn and I even…"

Izuku just listened to her chatter excitedly, more than happy to simply be there and hear about everything she'd experienced. He occasionally asked a question or commented on something, but he was content to just let her talk. His eyes remained on her face, casually picking up on little details he'd never really noticed before, like how her eyes were a lighter shade of hazel than he'd thought, or how animated she was when she got to a part of her story that got her excited.

He was jerked out of his observation by an elbow to his shoulder. Katsuki was outright smirking at him, a teasing gleam in his eyes. "You've got a really dumb smile on your face, dude."

Izuku's face blossomed with crimson as he realized that he'd basically been just staring and smiling at Ochako for…how long? Apparently long enough for him to pick up on a couple of snickers somewhere close by.

"Hm? Deku, you okay? Your face turned red," Ochako asked.

"I-i-it's n-nothing!"

Thank _god_ , the bell rang right at that moment.

Aizawa entered the room looking as tired as he usually did. "Good morning."

"Good morning!" The class repeated.

He grunted and glanced down at his papers for the day. "Well, now that you're all back from your internships, it's time for me to inform you of our Summer Training Camp. It'll be a week-long bootcamp that both Class 1-A and 1-B will attend together. I've got the details for it here, along with a list of supplies you'll need to bring with you. But just so we're clear, this is all dependent on whether or not you pass your final exams."

His eyes glared at them warningly. "I know some of you definitely need to study more than others for this test, so if you want to go, you better work hard."

Mina and Denki whistled innocently, both perfectly aware that they especially were on the chopping block. Maybe they needed to ask some of their fellow students for extra tutoring…

"The next order of business is- hm?"

Aizawa was interrupted by the sound of a phone going off. His gaze locked onto Izuku as the boy reddened in embarrassment and dove into his backpack to find the device. "I know I've told you all to turn your phones off before class starts, Mr. Midoriya."

"I-I'm sorry!" He yelped, rummaging for his phone and yanking it out. "I could have sworn I turned it…off…"

Izuku froze as he stared at his phone- at the alarm symbol above the call icon.

"Something wrong?" Aizawa asked when he didn't immediately switch it off.

"That's my mom's emergency number…" Izuku stood up and answered the phone, about to make his way out of the classroom. "Hello?"

 _"IZUKU!"_ Inko's voice was so loud, the rest of the class could hear the panic in her voice. Izuku felt his eardrums almost explode and he almost dropped the phone. _"WHERE ARE YOU?!"_

"I-I'm at school!" He yelped, almost stumbling over his own feet as he tried to get to the door. "What's wrong?"

He heard a sigh of relief on the other side of the line and frowned. "Mom?"

 _"Honey, stay there. Stay at the school until I get there, okay? Just…don't leave the campus, please."_

"I wasn't going to," he replied, confused. He made to open the door, but jumped as it was thrown open almost violently. "What's going on?"

He found himself staring at All Might, who had a serious expression on his face. He whipped his eyes down and upon seeing Izuku, relief filled his face. The man grabbed Izuku's shoulder and squeezed firmly. "Thank god, you _are_ here."

Aizawa picked up on his tense expression and faced him. "All Might?"

He shook his head grimly. "Turn the news on."

He raised an eyebrow and pulled out a remote from his desk, pressing a button which caused the chalkboard to separate and reveal a large television. It was normally used for video lessons, but Aizawa switched it onto the first news channel he saw.

There was a helicopter view of what looked like a police convoy in utter ruins. An armored truck, which had been in the center of the convoy, had been blown apart on the highway. Wreckage was scattered everywhere and there were already emergency personnel on the scene, but it was obvious the damage was severe.

The way some of those cars had been crushed…Izuku swallowed. He really hoped there hadn't been any officers inside at the time.

He looked down at the headlines. His blood froze.

 _Prison-transfer convoy attacked by suspected League of Villains: Mass Killer Heat Viper escapes._

It felt like the breath had just been punched out of his lungs. Izuku stared at the screen with a growing sense of horror in his stomach. He was vaguely aware of his mother still talking through the phone, but he barely heard her. The happiness he'd felt that morning just drained away as he realized what was happening.

Heat Viper had broken loose. His father had escaped incarceration.

He was on his knees, black spots dancing in his vision before he even realized how hard it was to breathe. His legs had no strength in them as his phone clattered on the floor. He couldn't hear the sound of his classmates gasping or Aizawa yelling at them to stay in their seats. All Might helped him sit back against the door, but his vision was already fading…

* * *

Midnight slammed her hands onto the table as she stood up, scowling at the chief of police whom the U.A staff were meeting with. "What the _hell_ were you thinking?! You thought it was a good idea to just move him without telling us?! You didn't even inform All Might!"

The chief glared back at her. "It was kept a secret from all heroes, Ms. Midnight. We wanted his transference to be a quiet affair so no one would question the sudden absence of high-profile heroes."

"Well that worked out just _perfectly,_ didn't it?" She demanded furiously.

"Midnight, please sit down," Nezu asked politely. Midnight was seething, but she did so without complaint. The Principal looked at the police chief patiently. "Although I do agree with her that you should have at least informed us, I would like to hear what you were trying to do by going through with this sudden transfer."

The chief huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It wasn't sudden at all; we'd been meaning to move Viper from his old prison to Tartarus. It was completed only a little more than a year ago as you know, so Viper wasn't incarcerated there when he was captured. His original prison was the best thing we had before Tartarus, so we made the decision to transfer him there at some point to ensure his containment better."

"However, when your…student made that show during the Sports Festival, we had a public uproar demanding to know if Viper was really contained safely enough. In order to help calm the citizens worried about his security, we made the decision to make his transfer slightly ahead of schedule and as covertly as possible. It was disguised as a transfer of less dangerous inmates to avoid suspicion. That's why we avoided bringing heroes into the convoy."

Aizawa gave him a deadpan look. "And now we've paid for that by having a SSS-Rated Supervillain escape. Yes, the citizens are much safer now. You might as well have slapped a bullseye on that convoy by not putting any heroes in charge of defending it."

"How could we have known the information would be leaked?!" The chief demanded, causing Aizawa to scowl. "In fact, we're not even sure it was a leak! His transfer wasn't recorded; they might've just hit the convoy to free the other inmates and found him by chance!"

"You don't make a very convincing argument."

"Enough," All Might cut the conflict off before it could get worse. He had his hands clasped together like he was ready to crack his knuckles at any moment. "He's loose. That's the simple fact now. How he got free isn't the issue anymore. If the reports are accurate, he'll be going straight to the League of Villains."

Midnight shook her head, still bristling. "We were lucky they didn't try to intercept Izuku on his way to school!"

"Who says they won't?" Ectoplasm asked. "It would make sense if they targeted him next."

All Might looked at Nezu. "I'm going to be escorting him to and from U.A from now on."

"Is that a good idea?" Mic queried. "After all, we know that the League of Villains definitely wants to kill you. Wouldn't that be playing into their hands?"

Toshinori's eyes glittered dangerously. "I pity the villain who tries to attack myself and that boy."

Nezu considered things for a few moments in silence before nodding. "It's the best option we have for the moment. Until Viper is located and recaptured, All Might will stay with the Midoriyas as a way to ensure the League of Villains doesn't try to kidnap Izuku. Can you sort things out with the family, All Might?"

"Leave it with me," he said, standing up to leave the room. "For now, our job is to reassure the parents of our students that we're taking every precaution possible. Heat Viper is loose. Let's make sure his escape is a short one."

* * *

That afternoon, All Might was there to escort Izuku home with his mother and Eri. The latter two had remained at the school until classes were over, discussing the details of Toshinori's stay at their apartment while Izuku attended his lessons.

Izuku had been quiet for the rest of the day. Since he'd woken up, he'd barely said a word to anyone, and he was keenly aware of the stares he was getting from most of the other students. He couldn't focus in class no matter how hard he tried and nothing his friends said even began to lift the sheer dread in his stomach.

Katsuki was most affected by his mood and more volatile than ever. Even little comments or mutters he heard in the hallways between classes were enough to make his snap furiously and he almost got into three different fights with other students. Only Eijirou and Hanta holding him back at their own risk kept him from leaving some of the other kids with something to remember him by.

The entire school was on edge and no one was happy about it.

Toshinori drove them home in Inko's car, changing into his true form before they left to avoid suspicion. It was a quiet drive and he was more alert than he'd been in a long time, eyes flitting about the road warily. Although he doubted the League of Villains would be so bold as to make two attacks in the same day…he was not taking any chances.

Once they got to the apartment, they stopped at the door. Glancing around, Toshinori changed to his muscle form, ignoring Eri's gasp of surprise; that was something they needed to explain to her. Inko unlocked the door and he opened it cautiously, peering inside. He didn't want to run the risk of someone breaking into their home and setting a trap for them while they were away.

After a thorough search, he concluded that it was safe and let the family come in. Toshinori removed his jacket and set it on one of the hooks by the door. "Everything seems alright. If you need to go somewhere, let me know, but…other than that, you should all be safe here."

Inko nodded, glancing after her son as went to his room to leave his bag there. She bit her lip worriedly. "I'll get dinner started."

Toshinori agreed silently, shifting back to his true form. He heard Eri gasp again and looked down- the girl was staring at him as though he'd grown a second head. He couldn't help but smile a bit. "Go sit with Izuku, okay? I'll be there in a moment."

She merely nodded and ran down the hall to his room after taking her shoes off. Toshinori sighed. When Inko had suggested he spend more time here, this wasn't what he'd had in mind…

Damn Hisashi and his shitty timing.

He walked to the kitchen first to see Inko, who was already pulling out things from the cupboard to make dinner with. "Hey."

She glanced at him, the smile not reaching her eyes. She was as frightened as her son was. Toshinori reached over and pulled her into a careful hug, doing what he could to reassure her. "I'm here."

She nodded again. "I know. I'm just in shock. When I saw the news, I was terrified that they'd taken Izuku on his way to school."

"They won't take him," he promised. "I'll make sure of it."

Inko closed her eyes and leaned her head against him for a moment. She took a breath and then pulled away. "Go see him. I think he needs you."

"Okay."

He made his way to Izuku's room and peered inside. The teenager was sitting on his bed, staring at the wall as he absently stroked Eri's hair; Eri, by the way, had planted herself comfortably in his lap and was drawing in a sketchbook.

Toshinori knocked on the door lightly, causing the two of them to look up at him. He came into the room and took a seat on the bed beside the children. Not really sure how else to approach the situation, he opened his arms up. "Group hug?"

Izuku only inclined his head and leaned towards him, resting his head on Toshinori's shoulder. Eri just remained in Izuku's lap, continuing to draw, though she lifted her legs to use Toshi's as a rest. It wasn't exactly what he'd been going for, but…it was a start.

* * *

At the bar which was the secret hiding place of the League of Villains, a young man with black hair and patches of burnt skin tapped the countertop restlessly with his fingers. Tomura glanced at him a few seats down and scowled. "Stop that."

"Why?" The young man asked simply, casting him a sideways look.

"Because I said so."

"Tomura, calm yourself, please," Kurogiri asked. "We're all a little anxious, aren't we?"

Tomura huffed and looked away. He hadn't been happy about the aftermath of the Stain incident and these new…comrades that had shown up at their doorstep weren't exactly what he had in mind. The room was more tense than normal because of the four new arrivals standing in the room- each along with Tomura and Kurogiri considered to be extremely dangerous.

Dabi, the young man, and a crazy blonde girl called Himiko Toga had been brought in by a contact they'd worked with before. The other two had joined by pure chance- inmates that had broken free during their raid on the police convoy earlier. Or rather, Teacher's raid.

Tomura's mentor had assembled a small strike team of villains that, along with the three other Noumu he had prepared ahead of time, made short work of the convoy. It was a quick in-and-out job made easier by the two inmates that agreed instantly upon being freed to join them. Kurogiri had warped them on top of the convoy and escaped with the freed prisoners in a matter of minutes.

The two inmates who had joined them were freaks. The first one, Muscular, looked human enough; a bulky, blonde guy with spiky hair, but his left eye was scarred over and he had a psychotic grin on his face most of the time. His fingers were always twitchy, like he wanted to crush something.

The other guy looked like something out of a horror movie; Moonfish, a man covered head to toe in a black straightjacket so that his arms were still bound to his chest, but he could walk on his own. The only part of his body exposed was his mouth, specifically his teeth as his lips were pulled back by metal clamps to keep his gums permanently exposed.

Even though they were all "comrades" now, the room was still tense. Kurogiri was doing his best to keep things calm, but Tomura was in a bad mood and the newcomers didn't like it. Dabi's fingers would occasionally spark with blue fire and Moonfish's teeth would chatter every now and again. Muscular only looked too eager to start a fight and Himiko didn't appear bothered at all, though she was expertly twirling a switchblade in her hands with a big smile on her face.

Dabi's fingers tapped the counter a few more times and Tomura finally stopped what he was doing and turned to face him. "Keep doing that and you won't have a hand much longer."

The fire-Quirk user glanced at him, eyes irritated. "You wouldn't get close enough in time to touch me."

Muscular grinned savagely by the wall. "Oh? Mind if I join in?"

"No," Kurogiri warned the three of them. "Stop. All of you, we aren't here to fight amongst each other!"

"These guys are testing my nerves," Tomura snapped at him.

Himiko giggled. "How scary~!"

Moonfish's teeth chattered again. Tomura's hand clenched. Dabi's fingers started to burn and Himiko started to twist her knife in preparation to stab someone. Muscular's arm started to swell, red muscle fibers beginning to wrap around his limbs-

A door to the bar's bathroom opened up suddenly, giving them all pause. From out of the room came a tall man in a dark set of pants and a long, open black jacket. His exposed torso was wrapped up in bandages, disguising the hard muscle beneath them. His skin was pale from its lack of exposure to sunlight, but he looked somewhat refreshed; he ran a hand through his curly green hair, shaking out any loose strands he'd just finished cutting. His face was freshly shaved.

The man swept his eyes across the bar, causing the tension- or rather, the sense of aggression- to drop immediately.

Dabi leaned forward in his seat to study the man with interest. "I was starting to think you weren't actually here. I was afraid I'd wasted my time."

"It took me a little longer than I thought to clean up. Forgive me, it's been almost sixteen years since I've last done much of anything on my own."

Kurogiri nodded. "We understand. How are you doing?"

Dark green eyes glanced down at his hand, which ignited with emerald fire. His features were sharper than Izuku's and his face was older, his expression more aggressive. The curly green hair had been shortened to a buzz cut on the right side of his head, just above the ear.

He looked up at Tomura and his mouth set in a line. "I need to speak with your Teacher. I want my son."

* * *

 **A/N: It is midnight and I have literally spent the entire day writing this chapter because for once, I had nothing else to do. Please just take it. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep. For all you guys who were concerned that I stuck too close to canon for the last chapter (which, admittedly, I did) here's some fresh original content for ya. More to come- I did my best to put you lot on a feels trip, so if I succeeded...lol I'm going to have you guys in tears before long. Sorry, I'm tired and my maniac brain is doing dumb things now. Next chapter...might be out Friday. Or Saturday. Probably on the weekend at some stage, unless I get more freakishly long hours to myself.**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	21. Final Exams

_Chapter Twenty One: Final Exams_

Class 1-A was gathered in their homeroom as the school day came to an end. It was just minutes before dismissal and Aizawa had more or less left them to their own devices.

"I haven't studied at all!" Denki panicked. He currently had the worst grade in the class, just ahead of Mina's. Mina, by the way, seemed utterly unconcerned despite the fact that she hadn't studied at all, either. There were only five days left until the exams.

Hanta groaned. "The midterms didn't cover much since we'd basically just been admitted into the school, but between that and the Sports Festival, the finals are gonna be waaaaay different!"

"Not to mention there's a practical test," Minoru sniggered. "Must be tough."

Denki glared at him in betrayal- Aizawa had shown their class ranks by grade before he took off and he knew that Minoru somehow had the ninth best grade in the class. "Traitor!"

"Proudly," Minoru chuckled condescendingly.

Eijirou pumped his fists. "Come on, you two! All we gotta do is buckle down and study! We can all make it to the summer lodge!"

Shoto stared at them as he stood up, shouldering his backpack. "If you just attended classes normally, you'd be passing without any trouble."

Denki clutched at his heart as though he'd been stabbed. "That's cruel of you!"

Eijirou pointed his finger at Katsuki and Izuku, who were still packing their stuff up. "And with that…Katsuki!"

"The fuck you want?"

"Tutor us!"

"Suck my dick."

"I mean, I could, but it probably wouldn't end well for you."

Katsuki actually tripped as he got out of his seat and face planted on the ground. Izuku's jaw fell open, his face reddening in shock. In the back of the room, Momo blushed furiously and even Shoto just stopped in his tracks and stared at Eijirou.

The whole room was quiet, save Mina's quiet sniggering as Katsuki picked himself up and slowly turned towards Eijirou with a dumbfounded, blustered expression on his face. Eijirou was still grinning widely, his sharp teeth gleaming.

"…did you just offer to give me a fucking blow job?"

Mina lost her shit and started laughing hysterically.

"I suggested, _hypothetically,_ that if I did, you'd probably regret it," Eijirou pointed at his shark-like teeth without batting an eye.

Katsuki just stared at him for a few moments, blinking like he was trying to process how the fuck he was actually supposed to respond to that joke. Was it a joke? Eijirou was so straight-faced, he couldn't tell.

He shook his head in bewilderment after a second. "Okay, whatever. Yeah, I'll tutor your sorry asses."

"I knew I could count on you, bro!"

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Alright, how many of you fucks need help? Actually, no, I don't wanna waste my time counting. All of you can just come over to my place. Deku can help too, he's doing better than most of you scrubs. I ain't tutoring all of you myself."

"I could help out as well!" Momo offered.

He shrugged. "Sure, that works. What about sonic the hedgehog?"

Izuku shook his head, seeing as Tenya had already left the room. "I think he said he was going to spend most of the week with his brother."

"Fine," Katsuki grunted, throwing a hand up in the air as he left the room. "If you wanna get learned, hurry the fuck up!"

* * *

Mitsuki Bakugo/Bakumom was used to surprises. Her son was rather good at pulling shit when she least expected it, even if a great majority of his surprises annoyed her.

This was a new one, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

When she opened her door, she expected to see her son, and Izuku wasn't much of a surprise, either. She was not expecting to see what looked like nearly half of their class behind him.

In addition to Katsuki and Izuku, Momo had come along to help tutor their classmates, which consisted of Eijirou, Mina, Denki, Ochako, Kyoka, Hanta, Toru, and Mashirao. Most of the students looked a little nervous about arriving at the Bakugo house, which Mitsuki could only dryly assume was because of her son's less-than-stellar behavior.

"What have you done, now?" Mitsuki asked her son.

"Shut up, hag," he retorted. "They all wanna study for finals. Do ya mind?"

Mitsuki leered at him in annoyance for the response, but she was pleasantly surprised that he'd brought back so many people. Either they didn't know him very well, or her son actually had a better rep than she thought. She bet it was the former.

"Should I order pizza?"

"Yes please!" Was the chant of the students behind her son.

Mitsuki snorted in amusement. "Fine, come on in. Izuku, you tell your mom you were coming over?"

Although she didn't know the details of All Might guarding him, she knew Inko had been incredibly distressed about Viper's jailbreak. He nodded. "Yeah, she said it was okay."

Inko and All Might had been skeptical of letting him leave school without All Might there to protect him, but with how many students were going along, he decided it would be okay. What none of them knew was that All Might had actually followed them to make sure they got to the Bakugo house safely and that he'd now left for the Midoriya household.

The teenagers made their way to the living room, which was large and spacious. Katsuki threw his backpack on the floor by the couch and grunted. "Alright, who's failing what?"

"We're not all failing, you know," Kyoka snapped at him.

"Why the hell're you here, then?"

"I wanted some help with quadratic functions, that's why."

Momo looked at Katsuki as she set her bag down on a chair. "We should probably divide things between you, myself, and Izuku. How about I handle english and literature?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Sure. I'll get the math and science losers. Deku?"

"I can help tutor anyone who needs help with general heroics and practical applications," Izuku suggested quietly.

"Works for me. Alright, get to it, ya fuckmunchers."

Three hours and a lot of paper and pizza later, (as well as no small amount of curses from Katsuki) the students were nearly brain-dead from mental exhaustion. Kaminari's head was nearly smoking and Mina looked like a zombie- both of them had been on the receiving end of Katsuki's math-murder lessons and Izuku's in-depth heroics tutoring respectively. Well, that wasn't much of an excuse since Kyoka, Eijirou, and Ochako had bore through their teachings and come out of it all right.

Hanta, Toru, and Mashirao were also looking worn out. Momo was a brilliant tutor, but three hours of classical literature and english would exhaust anyone.

Finally, Katsuki stood up and stretched, groaning as his joints popped. "Alright, we're done for today."

Denki collapsed onto his back with an agonized moan. "Thank you!"

Izuku studied the practice quizzes he'd made up for Mina and Ochako and nodded, smiling. "Great job! You guys are already looking better."

Mina blinked at him dubiously. "Did I pass this time?"

"Barely, but yes!" Izuku showed her the quiz and she lit up, surprised. She hadn't thought she'd passed, but hell, she'd take it!

"Woo!" Mina threw her hands up in the air. "Victory!"

Ochako tapped her pencil against her chin as she looked over the questions she'd missed. "Deku, do you mind explaining this one to me, again?"

Izuku nodded and scooted over beside her, taking the paper to explain. While they went over the questions Ochako missed, Katsuki walked to the kitchen to grab something to drink. His throat felt dry after explaining math and science problems to his classmates for the last few hours. He opened the fridge, but glanced to the side when he spotted Momo following him.

She smiled politely. "Mind if I have a drink?"

He only nodded and pulled out a couple of water bottles, passing one to her. They each took a drink and Momo looked over her shoulder towards the other students in the living room. Her eyes lingered on Izuku and Ochako as the boy explained why the questions she'd missed were wrong and how to get them right next time.

"How's he doing?" She asked Katsuki quietly. He cast her a raised eyebrow as he was still taking a long draught, so she clarified. "Izuku?"

Katsuki swallowed the water and thought about it for a moment. Normally, he would've told anyone who asked to fuck off and find out for themselves, but Momo wasn't like the rest of his class who had a tendency to either piss him off or pull bullshit left and right. She also had absolutely zero fear of his notoriously bad temper. He respected her for that. There was a good, level head on her, and he wasn't even sore about admitting she was smarter than he was academically.

"I don't know," Katsuki admitted reluctantly, surprising her. "He hasn't talked to me about anything since his jackass dad bailed on his prison sentence."

She inclined her head slightly. "That's unusual, isn't it?"

"He usually tells me everything," Katsuki grunted, leaning against the fridge and watching his best friend as he and Ochako moved on to a different problem. "The last few days, if he's not focused on something, he just…he shuts down."

"You're worried about him." It wasn't a question.

Katsuki didn't acknowledge it, but his silence was confirmation enough. The teenage boy took another drink of water and shook his head before muttering in a low voice. "If his fucking dad gets his hands on him-"

"Stop," she interrupted gently. "Now you're just driving yourself crazy."

He grimaced. "I'm not used to someone going after him that I can't just fuck up. I'm-"

Katsuki looked at the floor and tapped his water bottle against the fridge, something like frustration twisting his face. When he spoke, it sounded like the words were being forcibly dragged out of his throat. "…I'm not strong enough to kill his dad."

Momo's eyes widened, only just realizing how distressed Katsuki had to be to bend his pride and say something like that. To admit, _willingly,_ that he wasn't good enough.

She glanced towards the living room for a moment and seeing as everyone was busy, looked back at Katsuki. "Can we talk privately?"

He raised a suspicious eyebrow at her, but nodded and slipped around the corner with Momo following him. Seeing as the downstairs area was too…occupied with people, he led her to the upstairs living room and turned to face her once he was confident they wouldn't be overheard. "What?"

"Just come here."

Katsuki wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but Momo hugging him wasn't up there on his list of expectations. He went rigid and momentarily lost all rational thought. "Haaaah?"

Momo's fingers ran through the hair on the back of his head. "You might be worried about Izuku, but you can't neglect your own wellbeing. The Katsuki Bakugo I know doesn't admit defeat so easily."

His eyes narrowed. He'd yet to return the embrace, but he didn't immediately push her away. "You barely know me at all."

"Yes," she admitted. "You're right, I don't know you well. But I understand you well enough to know when you're not yourself. On any other day, you'd even be willing to fight All Might without hesitating."

"What's your point?"

"You can trust us, you know? We're your classmates…your friends, aren't we? If you aren't strong enough on your own, you can trust us to help you out."

Katsuki scoffed. "Why the hell would I? I'm still trying to figure out who besides tail-boy down there has got something against Deku now that they know he's Viper's kid."

"What's going on with Mashirao is something he has to tell us himself," she replied. "We don't know the circumstances for why he's been behaving so oddly towards Izuku."

"And the rest of them? Hair-for-brains might not know how to lie worth a damn and maybe a couple of the others, but-"

"If you can't bring yourself to trust the whole class to help you right now," Momo interrupted him quietly. "Can you at least trust me?"

"…" Katsuki didn't respond verbally, but Momo felt his arms hesitantly wrap around her back.

"You won't speak a word of this to anyone," he muttered. His head fell forward against her shoulder; he was just realizing that she was a little taller than he was.

Momo shook her head. "I won't."

They were silent as Momo did what she could to comfort her classmate, this normally hyper-aggressive teenager who needed a little help to keep himself together. Her fingers kept running through his hair and she smiled at something new she had discovered.

"Your hair is a lot softer and fluffier than it looks."

"What the fuck?"

His bewildered response made her laugh a little. Momo was going to pull away, but Katsuki didn't immediately let her go. He let out what sounded like a reluctant sigh.

Momo blinked at him. "What is it?"

"You'll be fine on the practical exam, you know."

She didn't say anything at first, so he pressed on. "I know you're freaked out about it. That's the only time I've ever seen you look less than happy about an exam. You're overthinking things because of the how the Sports Festival went. Don't underestimate yourself 'cause of one bad fight. You've got better fuckin' grades than I do, you damn smart woman."

Her grip on him tightened, but Katsuki didn't mind. Momo's lips curved up in a large smile. "What is it with you and pulling surprises on us when we least expect it?"

"I'm just that fuckin' awesome."

"I suppose you are," she pulled back a bit, letting her hands rest on his shoulders. He was still scowling like he always did, but there was a little of the familiar fire in his eyes; like he was more himself now. "Shall we make a deal?"

"I'm listening."

"If we ever have a problem we can't tell the others about," she began. "We can confide in each other."

"That sounds fucking stupid."

She smiled and tilted her head to one side, unabashed. Katsuki rolled his eyes and shrugged. "But sure, why the hell not?"

They both suddenly paused at the sound of a straw being sucked on and their eyes flew towards the stairs, where they spotted Bakumom watching them through the railing as she sipped on a coke. She took her time slowly finishing the drink as Katsuki began to sneer and Momo's face reddened upon realizing they'd been caught (which was ironic since there was no reason to feel guilty about anything in the first place).

She finally finished and a smirk worthy of the Bakugo family spread over her face. "Well, that was my daily dose of adorable."

"Fuck off," Katsuki snapped.

Mitsuki only snorted and turned away, but not before firing off a parting shot. "You're too good for him, Momo, dear."

 _"MOM! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_

* * *

The study sessions following that were much the same as the first, although they spent the majority of the weekend at Katsuki's house instead of just a few hours. By the time it was all over, Momo, Katsuki, and Izuku had hammered their knowledge into their classmates to the point that even Denki and Mina felt more than confident about the written portion of their final exams.

And when they at last finished the exams and Aizawa declared that everyone had passed, Denki and Mina basically tackled Katsuki and Izuku out of joy. The result of that was Denki going "whee!" about two seconds later with a stupidly happy expression on his face and Izuku more or less fainted from how enthusiastically Mina hugged and spun him around.

The day before the practical exam, the students were in the locker rooms after finishing their last heroics class for the week. Today had been no less difficult than the others, so they were all tired and had their fair share of bruises.

"Damn, did you guys see Momo blow up that robot today?!" Denki exclaimed. "I had no idea she could make a bazooka!"

"She's been on fire the last few days!"

Izuku finished changing out of his hero costume and shut his locker a little more forcefully than he usually did, leaning his forehead against the cold steel. He was just ready for the week to be over. He was exhausted from studying for all of these exams, his anxiety was at an all-time high, and he hadn't been on top of his game in hero training at all.

He threw his backpack over his shoulder and made his way out of the lockers, doing his best to avoid any conversations. All Might would be waiting to take him home.

Eijirou watched him go with some concern. He turned towards Tenya, who was more familiar with the teenager. "Izuku hasn't been doing too great in heroics lately, has he?"

Tenya looked up from tying his tie. "Hm?"

"He keeps making mistakes during practical training," Eijirou told him. "Haven't you noticed?"

Tenya glanced at the door where Izuku had left and inclined his head slightly. "Yes…he hasn't been himself since Heat Viper escaped confinement. He's more anxious and easily distracted."

Rikido leaned over his locker door to join the conversation. "He's always been like that though, right?"

"Yeah, but he almost got smashed by a robot the other day because he lost his cool!" Hanta pointed out. "Aizawa really chewed him out for that one."

The sound of a locker door slamming shut alerted them to Katsuki's presence. The teenager was scowling in irritation. "Dumbasses. His psychopath dad is loose, of course he's losing his shit."

Eijirou dipped his head. "That's true. I wonder if he'll be okay for the practical exam?"

Shoto listened to them in silence, but he was concerned that maybe these things had been going on longer than since Viper's escape. _Come to think of it, he hasn't really been completely himself since the Sports Festival. His strategic thinking has been off for a long time. Even when we fought Stain, he broke the guy's Quirk down, but that whole fight was sloppy and we only won because Stain made mistakes as well. How much longer can he go on like this?_

* * *

It was time for the practical.

The students gathered up outside ground beta in their hero costumes, each of them unsure what to expect. There had been little hints about what the exam was, but no one knew for sure exactly what they where getting themselves into.

Izuku recalled a conversation they'd had at lunch earlier that day. Itsuka Kendo from Class 1-B had come over to sit with them, having expressed an interest in getting to know her sister class better and discuss the upcoming exam.

 _"It's like the entrance exam?" Izuku repeated._

 _Itsuka nodded. "That's what I've heard from some upperclassmen, although they say the context of the exam itself changes each year."_

 _"In other words, we have no way of knowing if it'll be a rescue exercise, or a combat exercise," Momo said thoughtfully._

 _Eijirou leaned back in his seat with a grunt. "If it's a final exam, it might have a bunch of all the stuff we've learned put into one."_

 _"We'll just have to be ready for anything," Itsuka agreed. "In fact, there's a chance that Classes A and B might be taking different exams to avoid any chance of us discovering what to expect ahead of time."_

 _"That makes sense," Tenya muttered. "As heroes, we have to anticipate the unexpected."_

Also with Class 1-A were a number of their teachers, all of whom wore their full gear for heroics. Aizawa stuffed his hands into his pocket as he cleared his throat.

"Right, the practical exam will begin shortly. Obviously, you can fail this exam too, so if you wanna go to the forest lodge, you better not slack off. I'm sure at least some of you have heard about what the test entails, haven't you?"

"Robots, right?!" Denki grinned confidently. "I can see the fireworks now!"

"Sorry, that's not the case!" Nezu suddenly popped out of Aizawa's combat wrappings around his neck, using it as a rope to lower himself to the ground. "As of today, we're changing the contents of the exam!"

Momo frowned. "How so?"

"Well, you see," the Principal began. "With recent events, there's been concern over a surge in villainy. Seeing as how robots can't simulate real battle that effectively, we've decided to get you first years more used to true combat by pitting you against people! That is to say, you'll be broken up into pairs and made to fight your teachers!"

Aizawa grunted in agreement. "Now, who you're paired up with and who you'll be fighting has already been decided. You were partnered up based on your habits, grades, and compatibility with each other. First is gonna be Izuku and Momo- you two are against me. As for the others, it'll go as thus-"

"Eijirou and Rikido vs Cementoss."

"Tsuyu and Fumikage vs Ectoplasm."

"Ochako and Yuga vs Thirteen."

"Tenya and Mashirao vs Power Loader."

"Toru and Mezo vs Snipe."

"Kyoka and Koji vs Present Mic."

"Minoru and Hanta vs Midnight."

"Mina and Denki vs Nezu."

"Katsuki and Shoto vs All Might."

Izuku gulped. Aizawa was going to be a difficult enemy for him and Momo to fight. He glanced over to Katsuki, who looked _pissed_ about having to team up with Shoto. The other teen had a neutral expression on his face, but he looked a little hesitant about going up against the Symbol of Peace.

"Your requirements to pass the exam are to have one or both of you escape your combat zone through an escape gate," Aizawa explained. "Or to restrain us teachers with a pair of handcuffs you'll be given upon arriving at your exam site."

"In addition, we'll be wearing special weights developed by the Support Course!" All Might interjected, showing the students a metal band that he snapped around his wrist. "These were made by young Mei! They'll take up about half of our body weight to slow us down."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at All Might. "Is that so we'll think about fighting you? You're underestimating us."

All Might laughed, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "I wonder?"

Aizawa ignored the nervous expressions on his student's faces and crossed his arms. "All of the exams will begin simultaneously. You'll be transported to different combat fields by the campus buses, so hurry up and get into them."

All Might let his eyes hover on their students as they made to enter the buses, his thoughts going back to the meeting the teachers held before the exam.

 _"In regards to which teachers will fight which teams…" Aizawa began. "I'd like to start with Denki and Mina. They've been improving academically thanks to all the tutoring with their peers, but their behavior is still simplistic in combat. Mr. Principal, I'd appreciate if you could throw them for a loop and make them think hard."_

 _"Okay!" Nezu piped up eagerly._

 _"As for the others…All Might, I want you to take on Shoto and Katsuki. Their grades are solid, but they've been on horrible terms with each other ever since the Sports Festival. Shoto relies on brute force too much and has a tendency to forget his positioning during a fight in favor of long range attacks. On the other hand, Katsuki is adaptable and has a great combat sense, but he has a tendency to run in alone and ignore others. Both of them are really powerful for their age and they're fully aware of it, but it's getting to the point of recklessness. I need you to remind them how high the mountain to the top is."_

 _All Might nodded. "Very well."_

 _Aizawa looked down at his paper. "The next team is going to be Izuku and Momo. Since Heat Viper escaped, I've noticed Izuku becoming sloppier and he has a tendency to lose his cool if things don't go according to plan. In contrast, Momo has been doing better than she was before the Sports Festival came around, but she still has trouble with split-second application. I'll be taking them. I'll erase their Quirks and dismantle whatever plan they come up with so they're forced to act reflexively."_

All Might's eyes followed Izuku as he boarded the bus. He knew the teenager's emotional state was not in a good spot for an exam, but they couldn't coddle him or the others. Real villains would jump on a weakness like that without hesitating.

* * *

Katsuki stomped down the street of the residential area for their exam, scowling all the while. Why the fuck was he paired up with icy-hot of all people?! He didn't need this guy to pass the exam. The scrub probably wouldn't even put more than half effort forward, anyways.

Shoto had been more or less ignoring him and his glares as they made their way further into the town, but he was admittedly more apprehensive about just blindly going in. "Hey, we should probably-"

"Shut up," Katsuki snapped. "I don't need your help."

Shoto's eyes flashed with annoyance. "We're up against All Might, you know. We have to work together."

"Yeah? I'm not gonna help out some jackass who only bothers using half of his Quirk!"

Before they could get any further into it, there was a boom and then a wave of debris slammed into them from the other side of town. A blast of wind swept them off their feet and they tumbled back several meters before coming to a stop.

Katsuki shook some of the debris out of his hair and glared into the cloud of smoke, from which a deep voice roared forth.

"Who gives a damn about destroying the town?!"

Shoto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. The menacing aura pouring from All Might reminded him of Stain's terrifying presence.

The Symbol of Peace emerged from the cloud of debris with his eyes glowing, a dangerous smile spread wide on his face. "If you think of this as an exam, you'll regret it, you two. I am a villain! Come at me with everything you've got!"

* * *

Izuku and Momo cautiously walked along the edge of the buildings in the downtown test area, keeping their eyes open for Eraser Head. The exam had just started, but Izuku was already feeling nervous and he was sweating from the tension. Although he and Momo had discussed a brief strategy, the exam had started so quickly that there hadn't been much time to plan. Even now, he was trying to come up with a way to pass.

The ideal course of action would be to escape. Eraser Head relied on close combat to fight, which normally would have been right up Izuku's alley, but it meant nothing if their Quirks got erased. Aizawa's greater experience at that point would make it easy to defeat him and Momo.

No, their best bet would be to try and slip past him and make it to the exit gate. For that, they needed to sneak through the more closed-off areas of the town, where it was easy to shift from one street to another or go through the buildings.

"Izuku," Momo's voice behind him made the teenager jump. "We should have an early alert system in case he tries to sneak up on us."

 _Dammit,_ he should have thought of that from the start. He mentally berated himself for making such a simple mistake; that was such a basic strategy he couldn't believe it had slipped his mind.

He let his flames engulf him with some hesitation, though he was careful to keep them lower than normal to avoid alerting Eraser Head if he was in the area. He also wanted to keep Overdrive as a last resort- if the exam lasted the whole thirty minutes, his body would go numb before even half of the time was up.

"If Eraser Head finds us, what's the plan?" Momo asked, peering down a street as they snuck through an alley. She had a quarterstaff in her hands- a weapon she'd prepared ahead of time.

"Try and blind him somehow," Izuku replied. "If I heat up my flames enough, it'll make it hard for him to look at me."

"Won't he erase them before you can do that, though?"

Izuku almost stopped in his tracks and squeezed his eyes shut. He was an _idiot!_ Of course his Quirk would be gone before he could do that!

"Well…" He struggled to come up with a response.

Momo glanced at him, recalling her conversation with Katsuki about Izuku and how he hadn't been himself lately. She'd also been one of the students who noticed how he was struggling in practical training, and it was even more apparent now that he wasn't able to focus enough to come up with a strategy. This wasn't the Izuku who had countered Denki and Tenya so flawlessly during their first day of training. The one who had impressed her and the rest of their class with his sharp application of Quirk analysis.

Of course, that was why they were in teams.

Suddenly, Izuku's flames went out. He froze in place as he realized that they'd gone out without his doing anything and shouted on reflex. "Look ou-!"

Something slammed into his back and he face planted into the ground, stunned by the impact. Eraser Head had come down the alley from the rooftops and erased his Quirk just before hitting him.

Momo brandished her quarterstaff and made Eraser Head leap off of Izuku, but he was quick to double back and charge her. As he leapt at her though, Izuku jumped back to his feet and grabbed him by the ankle in midair.

Without his Quirk, all Izuku managed to do was halt his movement in the air, throwing both him and Eraser Head off-balance. The Pro was about to spin and kick at Izuku, but Momo took the opportunity to swing her quarterstaff and managed to smash it into their teacher's jaw.

Eraser Head grunted in pain, but he landed with ease and backed off as Izuku staggered to retain his footing. The teenager's eyes flew around the alley for an exit- this wasn't a good place for them to fight Eraser Head, where he could make use of his close-quarters experience to maximum effectiveness. He spotted a door to one of the buildings and ran for it. "Momo, this way!"

She followed him as he threw the door open and got them inside before slamming it shut and locking it behind them.

The inside of the building- an office, it seemed like- was dark, but Izuku had his Quirk back now and flared up to light the area up. They cautiously made their way through the building, tense and wary.

"We should get somewhere more open," Izuku told her. "Somewhere we can attack him at a distance."

"Was coming in here the best idea, then?" She asked.

"Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else. If we stayed in the alley, he would've taken us out. At least here there are things we can use to keep him from seeing us."

"That's true, but you're more vulnerable for it."

They froze and whipped their heads up to see Eraser Head crouching, having removed a ceiling panel to position himself above them. The Pro's eyes gleamed in the dark behind his goggles and Izuku's flames went out again. "It was a sloppy decision, Izuku."

He lunged down and tackled the teenager, grabbing his costume to throw him into a desk. Unwilling to let Izuku just jump back into the fight this time, Eraser Head rushed him again and trapped the boy in his wrappings before kicking him into a wall.

Momo ran after them, only to find Eraser Head coming after her now that Izuku was incapacitated. She quickly found herself on the defense and retreated with her quarterstaff- as skilled as she was with it, she was only going to buy them some time like this unless she got a lucky shot in. Eraser Head was just that much more experienced with close combat.

Izuku was panicking, trying to scramble free of the capture wrappings while his Quirk was erased. He couldn't think- nothing was going the way it needed to and he couldn't come up with a way for them to get away from Eraser Head in this situation. He was going to capitalize on their mistake and make them pay for it.

They were going to lose because he couldn't get his shit together. If they lost, it would be because of him.

Momo was suddenly kicked into a desk and disarmed as Eraser Head moved to immobilize her as well. Izuku felt his Quirk come back and let loose in his panic.

"Momo, get down!"

Momo's eyes flew to Izuku and went wide as he tore free of the wrappings with his Quirk. Lightning arced off of Izuku's limbs as he activated Overdrive, the bolts around his right hand especially strong enough to hit the lights overhead and make them shatter. He charged up 100% in his right hand's index finger and let it loose at Eraser Head with a flick.

The blast roared through the building, blowing office equipment everywhere and making glass shatter. Eraser Head was sent flying through one of the walls, but to Izuku's horror, Momo still got hit. One of the bolts from the surge of plasma burned her arm, causing her to cry out and clutch at the injury.

Izuku rushed over to her and helped her up as they scrambled to escape the building, running out through one of the broken windows and onto the street. They escaped into another alley, breathless and sweating.

"Oh my god, Momo, I'm so sorry!" Izuku felt a surge of guilt as he saw the burn his attack had branded into her skin.

She shook her head, wincing some. "It's not bad. We got away from him, so we'll call it a best-case scenario."

He leaned against the wall, unable to think straight. Now he was just making things worse! Not only had he been useless at finding a way to fight Eraser Head, he'd managed to get his partner stuck in the crossfire of his own attack! This was his fault! His breathing started getting heavier and he could feel a cold sweat break out over his skin. They were going to lose _because of him._ _They'd lose and Momo would fail because of him and they wouldn't be able to go to the training camp and All Might would be disappointed in him and and-_

He head was jerked to the side as Momo outright slapped him.

Izuku was so stunned for a moment that he completely blanked until she grabbed him by the shoulders and made him look at her. _"Get a hold of yourself."_

She took a breath and calmed down some. "We got into this situation because we both made mistakes, okay? I had you take the lead instead of having us act and think like a team. And you're overthinking so much that you can't focus on what to do when he attacks us. We need to back off for a moment and just reassess things."

"But I…" Izuku's head fell in despair. "I can't do anything. Even when we escaped, I…"

His gaze flickered to the burn on her shoulder and he felt his eyes sting. She shook her head. "It happens, Izuku. We're heroes- accidents happen all the time. The point is, we got away and now we've got another shot at passing the exam."

He didn't respond immediately. Momo sighed.

"You can't expect yourself to be perfect just to make up for your father."

Izuku froze and she knew she'd hit the nail on the head. Maybe it was subconscious, but he'd been putting so much pressure on himself because of his father and his Quirk that it had made it impossible for him to focus on anything else.

"You know," she said a little hesitantly. "When I saw your Quirk in the Sports Festival, I'll admit it scared me for a moment. But it didn't take long for me to realize that you were still you. You don't have to try so hard to make up for something you didn't do. It's not your fault that your father is who he is- you didn't get to choose to be his son. All you can do is be yourself."

She let him go and stepped back. "So pull yourself together, okay? You're our Quirk-maniac Class President. As Vice President, it's my job to make sure you lead us in our academic journey to become heroes."

Izuku didn't say anything for a few moments, but he eventually leaned his head back against the wall and took a few deep breaths. He wiped away the tears stinging his eyes.

"Thank you, Momo," he murmured. He was getting some clarity back into his head with every breath he took as he just let himself calm down.

"Of course. I am sorry for slapping you, though."

"Well, I burned you, so…"

"We'll call it even," she decided. Her face became serious. "For now…let's come up with a way to defeat Mr. Aizawa."

Izuku let out a long exhale and nodded. When his eyes opened, Momo couldn't help but smile- they had that same light Katsuki had pointed out in their first training session.

* * *

The world was still spinning. Everything felt slow and disoriented, but he was vaguely aware of something heavy keeping him pinned to the ground. Shoto's eyes were wide, breath gone as he struggled to regain control of himself.

Katsuki was in the same boat, but he was being hung up in the air by something with a powerful grip. He could smell his own vomit stained against the corner of his mouth, but he wasn't able to move. His muscles felt disturbingly weak and his body was wracked with tremors from some incredible impact.

They'd been fighting All Might relentlessly, somehow working together without even meaning to. Katsuki would dive in with an explosion and Shoto followed up with ice and fire to keep the Symbol of Peace from counterattacking. In the end, Shoto had managed to throw All Might into the air with a glacier as Katsuki flew at him from behind to try and hit their opponent with a full-power blast.

All Might's eyes had shimmered with something, then their world went black.

Even though they'd regained consciousness, they were still trying to process it.

 _What the…_

 _What the_ ** _fuck_** _just hit us?_

* * *

Eraser Head peered down into the street in search of his quarry. He couldn't believe Izuku had unleashed a blast like that in the middle of a building- it was fortunate the construct hadn't just outright collapsed. Even if they passed now, that was going to hit Izuku's grade.

He stirred as he heard an overhead speaker announce the results of another exam. He'd tuned out a few of them already, but he heard this one loud and clear.

 _"Team Katsuki resigns due to both members being knocked out!"_

Eraser Head's eyes narrowed with a sigh. He'd had a feeling that might happen- even if Shoto and Katsuki were strong on their own, unless they acted like a team, All Might was gonna crush them. They had to learn to get over their personal differences and act like adults if they were going to become heroes. Combat and rescues were not the places for childish conflicts like that.

Hopefully, All Might had managed to beat some sense into them.

His eyes suddenly locked onto some movement closer to the gate than he'd expected and he mentally berated himself. Imagine the _teacher_ being so distracted that his students got a free pass on their final exam.

Eraser Head leapt along the buildings and then jumped from wall to wall into an alley to make it to the ground as he chased his students. As he ran out into the street, Momo lunged out of another alley on the opposite side and ran at him. She was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses.

He got his wrappings ready, expecting that Izuku was probably either running for the exit gate since he was faster or intended to ambush him from behind. Hearing movement behind him, Eraser Head spun around and locked his eyes onto Izuku to erase his Quirk.

He didn't expect his eyes to be assaulted by an explosion of light.

Eraser Head recoiled as a flash grenade went off so close to his face that even his goggles weren't able to completely mitigate the blinding flare completely. Knowing his students would be seizing the opportunity to try and restrain him, he dove to the side and rolled, blinking hard to make the bright spots in his vision go away.

The bright spots went away, but only because some kind of fabric hit his head and covered his eyes, making his sight go dark. He threw it off and jumped, only to flinch as yet another flash grenade went off close to him.

His eyes were starting to really hurt now- ever since he'd been so badly injured by Noumu at USJ, they'd been more sensitive to intense stimuli. Unable to see, he couldn't react in the air fast enough as he heard someone- probably Izuku- jump after him.

The next thing he knew, he was being thrown into the street and a weight settled on his back. He felt the handcuffs snap around his wrist and let himself go slack. Alright, they'd gotten him.

He closed his eyes so that the burning pain would go away, knowing it would be a few moments before he'd be back to normal. He felt the weight on his back let up and heard Izuku speak somewhat regrettably.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Aizawa. I remembered that your eyes were weaker since your surgery…"

"It's fine," he grunted back. "If you spot a weakness you can exploit, you should be able to do that. Against an opponent with better combat skills than you, that's especially important. Good work, you two."

The overhead speaker made another announcement. _"Team Izuku has passed their exam!"_

* * *

 **A/N: Short note, I gotta leave for work like, now. Bit of development and we get the exams out of the way. Next chapter will be more fun and marks the beginning of the story reaching season three of the anime!**

 **Also, special thanks once again to Walk the Max Planck for helping me develop the chapter!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	22. Summer Begins

_Chapter Twenty Two: Summer Begins_

Tomura leaned against the bar with an annoyed expression on his face as he glared down at the newspaper he'd been mulling over for the last week or so. It was the article about Stain that pissed him off- the Noumus in the attack had been completely looked over in favor of the Hero Killer. Of course, Stain's popularity was working out in his favor since his apparent link to the League of Villains was bringing in powerful comrades for Tomura to make use of, but it still pissed him off.

What the hell was so special about Stain, anyways? Didn't they both want the same thing? Stain had said as much- they both sought to destroy the current society. So why was everyone so hung up over that blood-licking bastard and not paying attention to him?

He scoffed and disintegrated the paper, finally too irritated to keep staring at the damned thing.

Kurogiri was out right now and the rest of his new…comrades were at a different location awaiting some gear they'd ordered off the black market. Being left to his own devices was usually fine with Tomura, but he wasn't totally alone- it just felt like it.

He glanced down the bar to the seat on the opposite end, where Hisashi was studying a card Tomura had made with an image of Izuku Midoriya on it. His teacher's old "pet" had been staring at the picture of his child for what seemed like forever.

He was quiet and contemplative, and so damn polite it was almost annoying, but Tomura couldn't bring himself to ever actually say anything about that to the older man. There was something…eerie about his quiet demeanor that made Tomura wary. He seemed to possess this sort of calm control over himself. Like Hisashi knew he was so strong that he didn't have to give a damn towards anyone else.

There were times when he wondered if Hisashi was angry or sad or something else, but he couldn't decide which one. Tomura couldn't read this guy and it put him on edge.

Hisashi apparently realized he was being watched and his eyes slid over to meet Tomura's gaze. Again, Tomura realized with some wariness, he had no idea what the other villain was thinking.

"Is something bothering you?" Hisashi asked simply.

Tomura wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed small talk. It bored him and felt like a waste of time, but he also didn't like not being able to understand someone who he was pretty sure was probably a fair bit stronger than he was. Hisashi was a threat- he wanted to know to what point that threat extended. So Tomura decided to play his game.

"The Hero Killer, Stain," he said after a few moments of silence.

"What of him?"

"I don't understand why people are paying attention to him and not me. We both wanted to destroy society. Our goals were the same. So why were the Noumus in the Hosu attack just seen as a sideshow and he was held up as some big deal?"

Hisashi set the card of Izuku down and exhaled with a light breath, casually blowing out green fire as though he'd just taken a smoke. "I see your…teacher has been trying to make you think for yourself. It seems you've yet to figure it out, though."

Tomura's eyes narrowed. "You calling me stupid or something?"

"No, I am not," and again, it bothered Tomura that his tone was so damned neutral. He couldn't tell if Hisashi was actually being serious or if he was being condescending towards him. It was almost creepy. "Your mistake is that you're thinking about this two-dimensionally. In your mind, you've approached this as a "him and me" problem, have you not?"

The younger villain inclined his head slightly to agree. Hisashi turned his body to face him, though he didn't move from his spot on the other end of the bar. "Take a step back from that and think about the difference between the two of you. Stain's popularity right now is because of his "conviction" towards his sense of justice. Where did that conviction stem from?"

"All Might."

"Exactly," Hisashi leaned his head against his hand, though he could tell Tomura still wasn't getting it. "In this society, All Might is the pillar that keeps evil at bay. Stain's ideology was based on the concept of "true heroes" and he put All Might up as his central figure. His fervor was religious with its intensity- you can feel that he believes every word he says even from watching a video of him. Meanwhile…all your Noumus did in Hosu was rampage. It was just a childish tantrum."

Tomura's hand clenched. "I don't like the way you put that."

Hisashi didn't seem to care if he was offended or not. "Whether you like it or not, that's the image you put out- violence without cause. Such a thing is so common and ordinary that it _bores_ people. You're fortunate Stain was associated with the League of Villains or else your organization would still be pitifully small."

Rage flowed through Tomura's veins as he stood up. Hisashi's eyes followed him, still giving nothing away as the younger villain stalked towards him around the seats and stopped in front of him.

"You talk awfully big for one of teacher's pets," Tomura goaded, leaning on the bar with his hand close to Hisashi's arm.

Slowly, almost mockingly, Hisashi's lips curved up into a large smile, baring his teeth in a lazy kind of grin. "That depends on the _kind_ of pet, kid. I'm not your average house cat, you know."

Tomura felt his hair stand on end and his skin crawled as he saw a glow in Hisashi's eyes. The elder of the two villains slowly reached up with his hand and Tomura felt like he was watching the paw of a tiger coming towards him with delicate care, claws sheathed as though it knew that to strike this lesser creature would kill it. He dared not move- dared not provoke this predator whom he had so recklessly approached.

Hisashi's hand rested lightly on Tomura's shoulder, nearing the base of his neck. His index finger tapped the younger man's skin almost playfully. Each slow, rhythmic tap made his pulse spike. A cold sweat began to form on his flesh.

His hand slid up Tomura's throat, making him shiver, and gently took the palm on his face off, setting it on the bar with care. Hisashi lifted his hand once more to place it on Tomura's cheek as he studied the younger man's face intently. His eyes seemed to narrow some as he lingered on the scars and wrinkled skin, losing a bit of their playfulness.

"All for One was right to take you in," he murmured, his thumb lightly caressing Tomura's cheek. "You're the kind of person most affected by the problems with today's society. But you're one of the few strong enough to do something about it. All you need is to learn how."

He took the palm from the bar and offered it to Tomura, who accepted it with some hesitation. Hisashi's smile went from something predatory to something more genuine. "Instead of looking at me as a "pet" I'd like for you to see me as a tutor. I'm not All for One, but I know what he's trying to make you into. If ever you can't find the answer, I'll try to help nudge you in the right direction."

His hand rested itself on Tomura's head, ruffling his hair. "It's a fickle thing to do…you can't convince others to follow you just because you want them to. You can't give up because you don't feel like doing something. You have to follow an ideal with such intensity that others can't help but to take notice of you."

Tomura considered that for a few moments before his eyes shone in realization. "Is that why Stain is such a big deal?"

"Now you're starting to understand," Hisashi praised, removing his hand from the younger villain's head. "That's exactly it. He _made_ _himself_ into an icon with his powerful ideology. Just as All Might did."

"I see…I get it now…" Tomura's head cocked to one side and a twisted smile spread over his face. "What was I so pissed about earlier? It's so simple…It's all because of _All Might."_

* * *

Izuku blinked as he heard the doorbell ring. He had just been about to start a casual workout in his room, but apparently they had company.

"Honey, can you get the door?" Inko called to him.

"Yeah, I've got it!" He called back.

Eri had been drawing and hopped up, running after him. "Who is it?"

"Dunno," he replied. "Maybe a salesperson or something."

Izuku opened the door slightly, but relaxed when he realized it was just Denki and Minoru. "Hey guys."

Denki grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. "Hey man. Let's go to the pool!"

"The pool?"

"Yeah, we got the school pool reserved today for training!" Minoru exclaimed with a smile. "Come on, we can train together!"

Izuku stared at them with some confusion, but he didn't really have anything against it. Plus it was hot outside- the water would probably feel great…

"Okay, sure," he shrugged. "I'll go grab my stuff."

"I wanna come!" Eri exclaimed, tugging on Izuku's arm. "Please?"

"What's this about?" Inko and Toshinori peered down the hall from the kitchen.

"Mom, can Eri and I go to the school pool?" Izuku asked.

Inko blinked dubiously and glanced at Toshinori, who was in his true form at the moment. The blonde man shrugged. "I have to go into work anyways."

She nodded and looked at Izuku. "All right, but bring your phone and stay with Eri!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Izuku agreed before running to his room with Eri right behind him, the little girl practically bouncing in excitement.

Toshinori smiled at them fondly. "I'll leave a minute after they do and tag along on the train ride."

"Thank you. I'll have dinner ready for you all once I get back from work."

"I'll cook tonight," Toshi replied, surprising her. "I don't have a lot of paperwork to do, anyways. You can take a break for once."

Inko smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

About an hour later, the three boys were changing in the locker room. Denki and Minoru hadn't bothered to ask where Eri had gone and assumed she was just waiting outside.

Izuku smiled excitedly as he closed his locker, now wearing the school-issue boy's swimwear. "This was a great idea, you guys. We can use our Quirks if we have to since we're at school. It's perfect for training!"

Denki tutted at Izuku with a large grin on his face. "But of course! We're heroes in training, after all!"

There was something about the smiles on their faces that kind of made Izuku a little wary- like they knew something he didn't. It made him kind of suspicious, to be honest.

Of course, the two of them DID have an ulterior motive; Minoru had overheard the girls discussing plans to come out to the school pool and had decided with Denki to take advantage of the situation to their heart's content. They'd invited Izuku so that they wouldn't be as suspicious; the boy was their class president, after all. He was an excellent scapegoat. Ah, they could see the bikinis now…

The pair of lecherous teens turned for the door, all smiles and joy until a hand set itself on each of their shoulders. They froze as Izuku's voice became disturbingly kind.

"Guys…I'm sure you didn't invite me here for some reason other than to train, right?" They turned and felt terror rush through their veins at the sight of Izuku's large smile, not at all the kind of innocent expression they were used to seeing. His eyebrow seemed to twitch just slightly as he looked at his friends. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"N-no, o-o-o-of c-course n-not," Minoru stammered, trying to pass it off with a weak chuckle.

"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it!" Izuku exclaimed, still smiling. "Because the girls are gonna be joining us! Funnily enough, they made plans to come out here today, too!"

"R-r-r-really? I didn't know!" Denki laughed nervously. "Wh-what a coincidence! L-let's all work h-hard together!"

"That's the spirit! Let's go!"

Izuku walked past them, shaking his head with a slight smirk as he heard his friends slump to the ground and catch their breath as soon as he was out the door. Yeah, he figured that was what this was all about. As a fellow teenager, he knew exactly where their thoughts went; it was totally fine to be attracted to the girls, but learning some _restraint_ wouldn't kill them, sheesh.

Well, if they didn't, he was pretty confident any of the girls could probably beat them when they pushed their boundaries too far.

He made it out to the pool area- and met up with the rest of the class whom he'd invited ahead of time. "Hey, everyone!"

"You're late!" Tenya chopped a hand towards his friend, but in a friendly way.

"Huh?! Wait, why are you here?!" Denki demanded as he and Minoru followed Izuku outside. It was literally their entire class.

"I invited them to join us for stamina training today," Izuku informed them. "Well, this was the girls' plan in the first place, but it ended up being the whole class."

Minoru and Denki exchanged an excited glance. Even if Izuku warned them off, there were definitely girls in swimsuits here!

Momo blew a whistle and set her hands on her hips. "Alright, now that everyone is here, get into groups of three for stretches! Tenya, Katsuki, and I will lead!"

To Denki's disappointment, there were no bikinis; the girls were all wearing standard school-issue swimwear. Minoru didn't mind though. All the girls looked great, as ever.

"Izu!" Eri ran over to Izuku, wearing a smaller version of the swimwear the other girls were wearing that Momo had made for her. "Can I help?"

"Well, if you wanna swim, you gotta stretch!" Izuku knelt to ruffle her hair lightly.

"Ok!"

Ochako came over to join them. "Let's team up, Deku!"

Katsuki huffed and rolled his eyes. "All of y'all hurry up! You're so freakin' slow!"

"There's the censored Katsuki," Mina sniggered, prompting the teenager to glare at her angrily. Mina ignored him and waved at Eri. "Eri, we're all glad to have you here with us!"

Once everyone was gathered in groups of three and spread out around the pool, Momo began to direct them in their stretches while Tenya shouted counts for ten seconds a piece. Katsuki didn't do much besides yell at people when they weren't doing them right or if they let up too early.

"Alright, sit down and do your toe touches!" Momo ordered next. "If you can't bend forward far on your own, have one of your partners give you some help!"

"And don't bend your knees, you wimps!" Katsuki yowled. "Do it right!"

"Izu…this is hard!" Eri gasped, trying to touch her toes and keep her legs straight.

"Here, I'll help," Izuku knelt next to her and carefully helped her lean forward while Ochako kept the girl's legs straight. Once Eri couldn't lean forward any further without it hurting, they kept it for a count of ten and then let her go.

Eri fell back with a little groan. "Stretches are hard…"

"If you do them a lot, you get used to them," Izuku encouraged her.

"Deku, mind giving me a hand, too?" Ochako asked. She hadn't done a lot of work on her flexibility, so it was still a tough exercise for her. She could barely reach her toes, let alone grab her heels like Katsuki was. The guy was practically bent over double, jeez!

Izuku nodded and kneeled behind her to help her out. He set his hand between her shoulder blades and another lower on her spine to keep her back straight as she leaned forward. Ochako was able to shift enough to reach her toes, even though it stretched her legs painfully. Izuku's hands were firm on her back and felt kind of nice, too…

Ochako's face reddened as she suddenly recalled what Yuga had asked her during their practical exam. _Do you like Izuku?_

She almost sat straight back up, but Izuku kept her from doing so. "Not yet, Ochako. Just a few more seconds."

It felt like her face was on fire, but she took a breath and exhaled, trying to make the heat go away. This was just Izuku being helpful like always. Besides, it wasn't like Yuga was right…probably.

"Okay, you're good," Izuku let her up and took a seat himself. "My turn now."

He leaned forward as far as he could, managing to touch his toes, but he couldn't quite do what Katsuki was doing. Ochako knelt behind him and hesitantly reached for his back. "Do you need help?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind," Izuku grunted, wincing at the painful stretch in his legs. "I haven't done this exercise in a while."

Ochako nodded and swallowed as she set her hands on his bare back- one between his shoulder blades and another at the base of his spine. He didn't look like it at first glance, but Izuku had a fair amount of muscle on him, which she felt tensing under her touch. His skin was warm and she almost forgot to keep one of her fingers up so he didn't start floating.

Izuku meanwhile hadn't really been thinking about this when he'd helped Ochako stretch, but…now, with her hands on his back, he was _acutely_ aware of her skin against his. Just her hands were unbelievable soft and every little shift of her fingers made him shiver involuntarily. He gulped and did his best to lean forward and hide his blushing face in his knees.

He suddenly realized there was a distinct lack of yelling and glanced up, only to instantly regret it. Katsuki was staring at him with _THE biggest shit-eating grin he'd ever seen in his entire life_ and it made Izuku almost spontaneously combust on the spot.

Eri looked from Izuku to Ochako, both of whom were blushing somewhat, and tilted her head in confusion. "Strawberries?"

"Pfft!" Katsuki heard that and had to clap a hand to his mouth to keep himself from laughing outright when Izuku and Ochako's faces reddened further. His humor was cut off as Momo smacked the back of his head. Instantly, he whipped his head up to glare at her. "What was that for?!"

"Pay attention!" She scolded him. "We're moving on to the next exercise!"

Katsuki scowled and straightened to glare at the teenage girl, but Momo mirrored him and lifted an eyebrow, as though she were daring him to challenge her. Again, Katsuki was reminded that though it was _so_ close…Momo was still taller than him and _it pissed him off._

Dammit, why the _hell_ was it harder to be intimidating when you were shorter than someone else?!

"Fine!" Katsuki snapped and shifted his position. "THIS is the next exercise!"

Everyone watching stared with disbelief, some hilarity, and no small amount of horror as Katsuki Bakugo did a perfect splits.

"What the heck, man?!" Hanta yelled in terror.

"Why would you do that to your gonads?!" Denki screamed.

Eijirou was actually trying to do it, but he was sweating and it hurt like all hell. "Holy crap! I-I can't!"

"Do it, you weaklings!" Katsuki snarled, twisting his head to sneer at Momo in triumph. "How about that, Ponytail?!"

Momo only stared back with a little smirk as she mirrored his splits down to the letter. Katsuki's face took on a deadpan expression. _Fuck,_ he didn't have anything better than that and she _knew_ it from his sour look. She evidently got some satisfaction from his petty attempt (and failure) to best her because she couldn't hold in a small giggle as he turned away and _refused_ to look back at her.

Score one to the Vice President of Class 1-A, ladies and gentlemen.

Toru was trying, but neither her, Mashirao, or Rikido could do it. "G-geez, this sucks!"

"C-can we pick a different one?!" Ochako asked weakly, glancing to Eri first, who had given up trying and then to- _"Deku?!"_

Izuku almost had it, _almost,_ by like literally a half-inch, but it looked like it was costing him his soul. His face was twisted up as he groaned; _Shit,_ he really needed to stretch more! He used to be able to do this when he and Katsuki were _kids!_

Since Katsuki was getting no satisfaction of victory from his new competition (AKA Momo) he scowled at Izuku. "Deku, what the heck are you doing over there?! Touch the ground all the way!"

"I'm trying!" He gasped, doing his best to dig through the pain.

"Try harder!" Katsuki demanded, jabbing a finger towards some of their other classmates. "Alien Queen and Frogger are doing better than you!"

Mina had the splits down with practiced ease and was grinning as she watched Shoto and Kyoka struggle beside her. "I do this stuff all the time so I can keep in shape for break dancing!"

"Don't feel bad guys, it takes practice," Tsuyu admitted. She was able to do it too, and somehow Fumikage was pretty close. Although, like Izuku, it looked agonizingly painful for him to pull it off. Koji was trying, but he didn't have the same flexibility the others did.

Momo decided to offer her classmates mercy and clapped her hands. "That's enough for now!"

The greater majority of their class fell over with moans of pain. Momo sweat-dropped. Maybe she'd let her newfound competitiveness with Katsuki get the better of her…

Tenya straightened and lifted one of his hands. "Right, everyone into the water!"

* * *

Several hours later, the class took a break from their rigorous endurance training to sit down and have a drink (courtesy of Tenya bringing a cooler full of refreshments). They all sat in the shade and took a little time to recover from the strenuous exercises.

"Phew!" Minoru groaned as he sipped from his drink. "You guys are merciless!"

"That's the whole point," Katsuki grunted, rolling one of his shoulders to work out an ache in his muscles.

Eri was sitting in Izuku's lap and looked ready to nod off at any moment. Momo had made some simple floaties for her when they taught her how to swim since the pool was so deep and then members of the class took turns between exercises to help her out. She had had the time of her life and now she was all tuckered out.

Izuku looked over at Minoru. "You know, you're in better shape than I thought. I was surprised."

"Well yeah, girls like guys that are fit."

"Now if you'd stop being a pervert you might actually get a reputation to match."

"Hey!"

Eijirou glanced towards them. "Not that I'm complaining, but why did we decide to do a workout like this the day before we leave for the training camp? Aren't we gonna be working our butts off there, anyway?"

"Because I ain't gonna be satisfied with some week-long bootcamp after that final exam," Katsuki scowled, casting a glare at Shoto, who only shook his head in irritation.

Izuku sighed. They were even more disagreeable than before after All Might curb-stomped them.

"I'm really surprised that two of the class's strongest didn't pass," Kyoka remarked as she sipped on her drink. "Well, you guys were against All Might, but still."

"Shut it, Heart Throb!"

"Don't get pissed at me just because you lost!"

Tsuyu put a finger on her chin. "It just means you and Shoto weren't able to work together. That was probably why you two were put in a team."

"That's true," Momo agreed sternly. "I know I've told both of you in our rescue training to put your personal differences aside, too. You have no one to blame but yourselves."

Hanta groaned. "In the end, how many of us failed the practical?"

"Seven," Eijirou grumbled reluctantly.

Izuku nodded and let out a breath. "I got lucky; I thought for sure I failed that exam even though we beat Mr. Aizawa…"

"Same here, Thirteen really put us through it," Ochako agreed. "Yuga and I barely managed to pass."

"Well, it just goes to show that U.A was serious about making the exams harder," Fumikage pointed out. "If you think about it, the exam was so difficult that even the best students in the class struggled."

"Makes you wonder what this boot camp is gonna be like," Denki muttered.

"I'm sure it will be important to our development as heroes!" Tenya lifted his hand up to encourage his classmates. "After all, with villain activity on the rise, we must be prepared to handle any situation that comes our way! Remember our school motto! Go beyond! Plus Ultra!"

Izuku smiled at that and nodded, but even as Tenya said that…he just had this really uneasy feeling in his stomach.

* * *

Izuku finished zipping up his bag for the training camp and set it aside by his bed before standing up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He was going to crash early tonight; all that swimming had really taken it out of him. In fact, Eri was already asleep.

He heard a knock on the door and glanced over his shoulder as Inko walked into the room with a smile on her face. He smiled back and turned towards his mother as she came over to give him a hug.

"You're all packed up?"

"Mmhm," he hummed back. He squeezed her firmly and rested his head on her shoulder, already feeling like a sleepy child the second Inko embraced him. Katsuki often teased him for being a mama's boy, but Izuku didn't really have a problem with that.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, mom," he mumbled. Inko rubbed his back and sighed.

"I think you're getting taller again."

His smile widened some. "Think so?"

"It wouldn't surprise me," she admitted happily, running her fingers through her son's hair. She pulled back a bit and looked at his face, cupping his cheeks with her hands.

"I know you might not want to hear this," she began hesitantly, her smile becoming a little bittersweet. "But you look so much like your father when he was your age."

Izuku frowned and opened his mouth for a moment, stopping himself as he tried to figure out what to say. He swallowed and looked at his mother in the eyes. "Was that when he was…good?"

"Yes," she said softly. Her thumb caressed the skin of his cheeks and her smile became a bit happier. "But I like to think your face is more like mine. You've got my eyes."

That made him smile again and he leaned into her touch. Inko was quiet for a moment longer before adding. "You're also much more polite than he was at your age. I'm glad I raised you right."

Izuku snorted and nodded. "Me too."

He paused and then hugged her again more tightly than before. "I love you, mom."

Inko squeezed him in response, her voice muffled as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you too, sweetie."

* * *

The whole of Class 1-A was gathered outside the campus near the buses the next morning, where Mr. Aizawa was waiting for them. The tired-looking hero grunted as soon as they were all together.

"Congratulations for making it through your first semester at U.A," he began. "Summer has started, but there's not going to be any breaks for you. At this boot camp, you're all going to be pushed beyond your limits like never before."

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh, and one more thing," Aizawa jerked his thumb towards the bus as another teenager poked his head out of the vehicle, having just loaded his bags up. "This guy will be joining us."

Izuku blinked in surprise. "Hitoshi!"

The equally tired-looking teenager grunted in response. "Uh-huh."

"What?!"

Their attention was garnered as an annoying familiar blonde guy went off on an overly dramatic, condescending rant. "Class A has people taking extra lessons? Does that mean you had people who failed the finals?! Isn't that weird?! Even though they're supposed to be waaay better than Class B?! How can that-"

Neito Monoma was thankfully shut down by a karate chop to his neck courtesy of Itsuka, who held the now-unconscious teen up by the collar of his shirt as she waved at her sister class apologetically. "Sorry, guys! We're actually happy to be going to the camp as well!"

"That's right," Minoru was practically drooling. "Not just Class A, but the girls from Class B will be there…it's like a-"

He felt a prickle on the back of his neck and something suspiciously like death seemed to be glaring at him. "Like a great place to get to know them and not do any perverted stuff at all ever."

"Nice save," Katsuki scoffed, a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten to punt the grape again. The little rat was learning.

"Everyone!" Tenya exclaimed. "Class A will line up in seat order! Please board the bus in an orderly fashion!"

Before long, they were on the road heading off to god-knew-where. After all, Aizawa had told them the location was going to change and they would have no idea where the camp was until they arrived.

Their teacher was going to take a nap during the drive, so decided to brief his class before he clocked out for a bit. "Everyone, the bus will stop once during the trip. After that…"

"Hey! Anyone wanna blast some tunes?" Denki shouted towards the back of the bus.

"Not if it's the crappy rap you always listen to!" Kyoka called back.

Tenya was trying to retain some order to the mindless chatter of students and was practically standing up in his seat. "Yuga! Please sit down and refrain from standing in your seat!"

Izuku was holding onto Tenya's shirt beside him to keep the other teenager stable. "T-Tenya, you're gonna fall over!"

Ochako leaned over her seat to chat with Mina and Toru while Tsuyu listened beside her. "What should we do first when we get there?"

"If we each get our own room, I call dibs on picking first!" Toru exclaimed.

"I wanna get the fireworks ready!" Mina cheered.

Katsuki had been ignoring them all for the most part by wearing a pair of headphones and playing some music to drown the noise out, but he was snapped out of his would-be nap by something hitting him right smack in his forehead. His eyes flew open as he grabbed the offending paper airplane before it could go any further and immediately destroyed it before standing up, removing his headphones to yell at the others. "Who the fuck threw that?!"

"Katsuki, language!" Momo scolded.

 _"Whom_ the fuck-"

"Katsuki, no!"

Eijirou was leaning down in his seat and trying his best to avoid Katsuki's attention while laughing until his sides hurt. "Holy shit, I can't believe I hit him!"

Denki grinned at him nervously. "You enjoy playing with fire way too much."

Aizawa decided it was better to just let it be and sat back in his seat, closing his eyes. _Well, whatever. This is the only time they'll get to play around, anyways._

* * *

When the bus finally stopped for a break, the class stepped outside and stretched their limbs. Izuku lifted his arms above his head and groaned as his spine arched, his whole body trembling with a yawn.

"Does this even count as a rest area?" Kyoka muttered, rubbing her eyes. "There's actually nothing here. Where's Class B?"

They were on a dirt road overlooking heavily forested terrain dotted with hills and mountains. There wasn't a single building in sight and the only interesting thing they could see was another car that seemed to also be taking a break in the rest area.

"There's no point in stopping without a reason," Aizawa told them, getting the class's attention in an instant.

Minoru was clutching his pants as he gave their teacher a strained smile. "Wh-where's the bathroom?"

The doors to the other car opened up and out came a pair of women in hero costumes, dressed like cats- complete with headsets like cat ears, cat tails, and special gloves like cat paws that were developed for combat. There was a little kid with them who had to be Eri's age or maybe a little younger, but he certainly didn't look like a kid with that scowl on his face.

One of them- a brunette- waved at Aizawa. "Hey, Eraser! Been a while!"

"Yo," Aizawa merely grunted as he looked to his students. "These are the Pussycats. They're Pro heroes who will be working with us during the training camp."

Katsuki rolled his eyes. _In three, two…_

"I know them!" Izuku exclaimed excitedly, practically bouncing in place. "They're a four person hero team who set up a joint agency! They're veterans at mountain rescues and this year will be their twelfth in active-"

The blonde Pussycat lunged over at him and shut him up by grabbing his face in one of her paws. "I'm eighteen at heart, you hear?!"

Her friend shook her head with a smile. "Anyways, I'm Mandalay and this is Pixie-Bob. Nice to meet you all!"

The class greeted them and Mandalay pointed towards one of the largest mountains in the distance. "You all will be staying at the foot of that mountain over there."

Ochako blinked in confusion. "Then…why did we stop here?"

"Uh…" Rikido laughed nervously. "How about we get back on the bus?"

"Yeah, that sounds good!" Hanta agreed.

Mandalay grinned at them- they had already picked up on what was about to happen. "It's nine-thirty in the morning now. If you hurry…maybe noon? Kitties who don't make it by twelve-thirty won't get any lunch!"

Most of the class blanched and ran for the bus. Aizawa rolled his eyes. "Sorry, you lot. Training camp has already begun."

Pixie-Bob suddenly darted between the running kids and the bus, grinning widely. She slammed her paws into the ground and Izuku yelled a warning. "Watch out for her Quirk!"

The ground rose up and engulfed the entire class, like a tsunami of earth which hurled them over the cliff, but also acted like a cushion to keep them from splattering from the fall. The teenagers shrieked as they were hurled none too gently to the forest at the base of the cliff, rolling along the dirt until they all finally came to a stop.

Katsuki took his head out of the ground and instantly screamed up at the heroes above them. "YOU BITCH! WAIT UNTIL I GET UP THERE!"

"K-Katsuki, no!" Izuku had to grab his friend to keep him from rocketing up after Pixie-Bob to give her a piece of his mind.

Mandalay almost looked apologetic as she grinned and called down to them. "Hey! Since this is private land, you can use your Quirks as much as you want! You've got three hours! If you want lunch, get to the facility on your own two feet through our forest of beasts!"

Denki gulped and turned towards the woods. "F-forest of beasts?"

Hitoshi was rubbing a sore spot on his back and winced as he straightened up. "What the hell…does this always happen to you guys?"

"Pretty much," Kyoka groaned. "Get used to it, newbie."

Eijirou cracked his neck. "No use complaining about it…we'll just have to get through this place!"

Minoru immediately ran for the woods, almost in tears from how badly he had to relieve himself. _I held it! I held it through all that! I just need to find a place to hide for a second and…_

He didn't take even three steps into the woods when a colossal creature with massive teeth and claws emerged from the trees with a deep growl.

"A BEAST?!" Hanta shrieked.

Minoru promptly wet his pants.

Koji started calling to the creature as it raised its paw to swipe at Minoru. "Calm down, dear beast! Stay back!"

"It won't listen to you, Koji!" Izuku shouted as he bolted forward and scooped up Minoru before the beast could crush him. He set the smaller teenager aside and called to his class. He'd spotted the dirt clumps falling from the creature and recognized what it was in an instant. "This thing was probably made with Pixie-Bob's Quirk! It's just a mass of dirt!"

Katsuki was ready to rage after Pixie-Bob threw them off the cliff and explosions started popping off in his palm. "Yeah?! Let me at it! I'll show that bitch what happens when she throws me around like she wants!"

He lunged at the creature with a snarl on his face. Tenya and Shoto raced in behind him.

Izuku flared up and charged the dirt beast with them, closing in on the creature from four different angles. "Someone get the legs!"

"I've got it!" Shoto responded, firing off a stream of ice to trap the beast in place. As soon as it was immobilized, Izuku, Tenya, and Katsuki blew the thing apart with a vicious series of punches, kicks, and explosions.

Rikido grinned. "Alright, they crushed it in an instant!"

Tenya's eyes caught movement above the trees. "We can't relax yet! There's more than one of them!"

Momo nodded and turned to their class. "Everyone get ready! We'll work together and fight through the beasts along the shortest possible route to the camp!"

"Fuck that!" Katsuki sneered, cracking his knuckles eagerly. "Let's have some fun with this! If these damn things aren't really alive, we can destroy as many as we want! Let's kill 'em all!"

Denki sweat-dropped. "He's really getting into it…"

"Well, this _is_ a training camp," Izuku said, stretching his arms and letting a little smirk spread over his lips. He could feel his blood starting to pump and it was making him excited. "Sure, why not? We're supposed to be pushing ourselves, aren't we?"

"He makes a good point," Shoto admitted. "Fine, I'm in."

Eijirou slammed a fist into his palm. "Let's go!"

* * *

It was evening when Class A finally reached the training camp site. Pixie-Bob, Mandalay, and Aizawa were all waiting for them as they emerged from the trees, ragged and exhausted.

"You finally made it!" Pixie-Bob exclaimed with a grin.

Mandalay looked a little sorry for them. "That took quite some time."

The students collapsed on the ground as they reached their teachers with loud groans of pain. Even Katsuki looked too tired to pick a fight with Pixie-Bob despite how pissed off he'd been at the start of the exercise.

"What the _hell_ do you mean, three hours?" Hanta moaned.

"That's the time it takes us to do this exercise, sorry!"

"You were boasting about how much better you are?" Rikido whined. "That's cruel."

"I'm starving…I'm gonna die…" Eijirou was almost in tears, his stomach was so hungry.

Pixie-Bob giggled. "But you guys did better than I thought you would. I figured you'd only make it here when the sun went down. You all beat down my earth beasts easier than I expected! Especially…you four!"

She locked onto Izuku, Katsuki, Tenya, and Shoto with a gleam in her eyes. "You guys really didn't even hesitate! Prior experience, I wonder? I'm eager to know where you'll all be in three years time…"

She licked her lips and suddenly started fawning all over the four teenage boys, startling them. "I CALL DIBS!"

"What the fuck?!" Katsuki snarled.

"Q-Quit that!" Demanded Tenya.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow as he pointed at Pixie-Bob. "Mandalay, was she always like that?"

Mandalay smiled a bit in embarrassment. "Well, she's getting to that marital age and stuff…you know."

"Speaking of marital age-" Izuku was cut off as Pixie-Bob grabbed his face again, the smile on her face as sweet as it was threatening.

 _"What about it?"_

"I-I was just wondering, whose kid is that?"

He pointed at the little boy who had been present with the Pussycats on the cliff. Once more, the kid was scowling at them all beneath a hat with horns.

Mandalay looked at him. "Oh, he's not our son, if that's what you mean. He's my cousin's kid. Kota, say hello, okay? You'll be with them for a week."

Izuku approached the boy and blinked at the scowl on his face. Eri was _never_ so angry-looking…how was he supposed to handle this? He knelt down and crouched in front of the child. "Nice to meet you, Kota. I'm Izuku."

He didn't even get a warning before the kid's foot shot up and kicked him square in the balls.

 _"Holy fu…"_ Izuku wheezed as he fell over, clutching at his family jewels.

"Izuku!" Tenya rushed over to check on his friend while he shouted after Kota, who stomped away. "You brute of a child! Why would you bring harm to Izuku's scrotum?!"

"I'm not gonna hang out with a bunch of fuckers who wanna be heroes!" Kota retorted.

"How old are you with that kind of language?!"

Katsuki snorted in amusement. "Precocious little shit."

"He's kinda like you," Hitoshi snickered.

"What was that?!"

Aizawa raised his voice. "Enough, get your bags off the bus and put them in your rooms. We'll have dinner in the cafeteria and then you can all bathe before going to bed."

* * *

Some time later after they'd all eaten, the boys sank into a hot spring with loud groans of relief.

"Ohhhh, this is the best," Eijirou moaned as his head fell back.

Izuku let out a long breath. "Phew…"

"Well, frankly, food and stuff isn't that important," Minoru said suddenly, standing by the wall that separated bathing areas in his towel. "What we seek lies beyond this wall…"

"No," Katsuki growled, his eyes half-closed as he enjoyed the warmth of the water. "You try anything you little grape, you make me get up from this spot, and I swear to god- HEY!"

"WALLS ARE MEANT TO BE SCALED!" Minoru howled, drool pouring from his mouth as he climbed the wall with his purple spheres. "PLUS ULTRAAA!"

"Minoru, can I join you?"

"YES! SOMEONE ELSE UNDERSTA-"

Hitoshi grinned. "Fall over."

Brainwashed, Minoru did as he was told. Fortunately, he hadn't gotten very far, and so the fall didn't really hurt him.

Katsuki snorted. "That was easy."

"You're welcome," Hitoshi smirked, leaning his head back as Hanta went over to tape the lecherous perv up and prevent him from trying such a thing again.

They heard Mina's voice calling over the walls. "Guys, was that Minoru?"

"Yeah, but Hitoshi brainwashed him!" Denki called back. "You're good!"

"Thanks, Hitoshi!" Toru shouted.

"Sure!" The teen responded before settling into the bath.

Izuku glanced at Hitoshi as everyone relaxed. "But I was surprised to hear you were joining us. How'd that happen?"

"Well, I guess I put on a decent show in the Sports Festival," Hitoshi muttered without opening his eyes. "Eraser Head and a couple of the other teachers suggested if I was interested in trying to make it to the Hero Course, I should go to this camp thing."

Tenya nodded. "As expected of U.A! Searching for excellent heroics candidates even amongst the general education students!"

Katsuki stifled a yawn. "Well, I don't really care. Just try not to die."

"No shit," Hitoshi scoffed. "Jackass."

"Zombie-looking fuck," Katsuki retorted sleepily.

* * *

On the other side of the bathing area, the girls relaxed once the menace that was their perverted classmate was dealt with.

"Trust Minoru to pull something as soon as he has the chance," Kyoka rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Good thing we've got the vigilantes-against-perverts keeping an eye out on things," Toru agreed.

Kyoka snorted. "Is that what we're calling them?"

Ochako sighed as she sank her shoulders under the hot water. "I feel like I'm melting away…"

Mina nodded absently. "We'll save the fireworks for another night, I guess. I'm too tired to do anything else…Oh yeah, Momo?"

"Hmm?"

"I've been wondering, since when are you on good terms with Katsuki?" Mina asked. "That came out of nowhere."

She shrugged. "He's not so bad if you can keep up with him, although he _does_ need to work on his language."

 _The sarcasm, too,_ she mentally added as she recalled the bus ride. Honestly, the guy was smart enough to give her own considerable intellect a challenge, but he was so _rude_ most of the time…

Tsuyu looked up at them. "I'm still amazed he and Shoto failed their practical exam."

"I know!" Toru exclaimed. "Like, two of the strongest guys in the class losing? I couldn't believe it!"

"Speaking of the exams, I heard Deku really struggled," Ochako said as she glanced at Momo.

"Yes, but he pulled himself together after we regrouped," Momo agreed. "In any case, we should take this camp as a chance to show them that they don't have the luxury to just relax at the top of the class. Those three are called the strongest in Class A, but I'm confident we can compete with them."

"Darn right!" Mina grinned, throwing her arms up into the air. "They don't know who the fuck they're messing with!"

"Language."

"Sorry- _whom_ the fuck-"

 _"Mina!"_ Momo gasped in exasperated fondness as the other girls laughed.

* * *

The bar was dark and quiet. Hisashi stood before the glowing TV- the only source of light in the room. He could barely see the dark silhouette of All for One on the other side of the video chat, but that didn't matter. The only important thing was that he could hear the man loud and clear.

"The information is good?" Hisashi asked.

"Of course," All for One responded. "The equipment Giran had ordered has come in as well. Kurogiri will be delivering it to you shortly. Unfortunately, I haven't yet had another combat suit created for you. The materials required to make it would need more time to be assembled properly."

"It's not a concern," Hisashi dismissed. "As long as All Might isn't there, I can handle things on my own."

"I expect so," the villain chuckled.

"What of my enhancements?"

"They'll be available before we move. It'll probably take time to kick in, though."

"I see."

Hisashi was quiet for a time, until All for One spoke. "Make sure you present a good example for Tomura. He's never led a compact team like this before."

"He's got a lot to learn," Hisashi uttered. "Why begin his education at this age?"

"I have my reasons." That was pretty much the response Hisashi expected. All for One went on. "In any case, I would like for him and your son to get along eventually. Although…thinking on it, they really are polar opposites. Yet the parallels amuse me."

"I can imagine," the green-haired man was silent for another moment before speaking again. "The rest of this team you've assembled…Are they really useful enough?"

"They'll serve their purpose," All for One said. "In any case, they're each stronger than most average villains. None of them are nearly as powerful as you, but they will do."

Hisashi inclined his head. "I should go and assess them before we finish the plans."

"Do so," All for One agreed. "I trust in you to get the job done, Hisashi."

 _"My son."_

* * *

 **A/N: I can hear your screams. Your mental breakdowns and WTF exclamations. It brings joy to my twisted mind XDD**

 **Viridescent now has the most follows of any My Hero Academia story on this site! It's second rank in terms of reviews and favorites, but I think we can make it to number one before too long! Plus Ultra!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	23. Going Beyond

_Chapter Twenty Three: Going Beyond_

 **A/N: Warning for all my anime-only readers! This is where we get into some spoiler territory, so if you decide to read ahead, just remember! You've been warned!**

The Class A students were woken up at five in the morning and given thirty minutes to prepare themselves. As difficult as the day before had been, everyone looked exhausted when they came outside into the faint light as the sun peeked over the horizon. Aizawa didn't have any sympathy, apparently; he was used to sleep deprivation. Not to mention it seemed like Fumikage and Hitoshi were doing just fine despite the shortage of rest.

They'd get over it once things got started.

Class B joined them shortly and once their homeroom teacher, the Blood Hero Vlad King took his spot beside Aizawa, the Class A teacher began to explain things to their barely-conscious students.

"Morning, ladies and gentlemen. This is the first day of our training camp to improve your strength in earnest. The goal of this camp is to increase everyone's strength so that you'll be able to obtain a Provisional Hero License. It's also to prepare you all for hostilities that are becoming more and more real by the minute."

Itsuku tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean? We've been doing physical conditioning for a while now, right?"

"You're not wrong," Vlad admitted, crossing his arms. "But that's not exactly what we're doing here at this camp."

Aizawa pulled out a softball and tossed it at Katsuki, who deftly caught it. "Katsuki, your previous record for the softball throw when school started was 705.2 meters. Give it another shot and let's see how much you've improved."

Katsuki grinned and rolled his shoulder a few times to warm up. "With pleasure!"

He threw the ball with a huge explosion, launching it sky high as he yelled. "GO TO HELL!"

Izuku stared at his friend with his mouth set in a line while the wind from the explosion blasted his face. _Go to hell…_

They waited a few seconds for the ball to hit the ground somewhere in the woods. Aizawa studied the gauge on his tablet and nodded. "Pretty much what I expected. 709.6 meters."

"Wha-?!" Katsuki's jaw dropped.

Izuku was just as surprised. _It's less than I thought it would be…_

Tetsutetsu looked bewildered. "Wait, just four meters difference?"

"Is that all you've improved?" Neito snickered and started laughing manically. "Class A really hasn't done much but cause trouble these last three months, have they-"

"Quiet, you," Itsuki chopped his neck without knocking him out.

"Over the last three months," Aizawa said as he put the tablet back in his pocket. "You all have definitely improved. But that improvement has been mostly at the mental and technical levels, as well as some growth in your stamina. As for your Quirks…they haven't grown all that much."

Vlad grinned as he saw the students start to figure it out for themselves. "That's why we'll be working on upgrading your Quirks starting today."

His smile was mirrored by Aizawa, who looked just a little too happy to the gathering of teenagers. "It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die!"

"Upgrade our Quirks?" Shoto raised an eyebrow curiously.

"That sounds manly!" Eijirou grinned. "I'm getting pumped up!"

Ibara frowned. "You say that, but between Classes A and B, we have forty different kinds of unique abilities. Could you be more specific? How and what are we supposed to improve?"

Vlad nodded. "As you know, muscle fibers break down under constant abuse, but become stronger and thicker when they heal. It's the same concept with your Quirks- if you use them over and over and over again, they will begin to grow stronger. If you don't keep them in shape, they'll start to wither away."

"Those who have Emitter type Quirks with natural upper limits must work on increasing those limits," Aizawa continued. "Katsuki's "Explosion" for example, will be used over and over until its power grows. Mutants and Transformation type users will train their respective body parts and augmentations. Tetsutetsu, Eijirou, and others like them will be doing that kind of work."

Kyoka looked a little apprehensive. "Is training forty-odd unique Quirks something that just six Pro heroes can manage?"

Aizawa grunted. "That's why we've got backup."

"Yup!"

The gathering of students turned back to the building at the peppy voice and realized that all four members of the Pussycats had gathered, including the two Class A hadn't met the day before. Each one wore their hero costumes and looked ready for some action.

The Pro hero team struck a pose and exclaimed in unison. "We're the Wild, Wild, Pussycats!"

A woman with teal hair, large eyes, and small yellow irises smiled at them with hyperactive energy. "I'm Ragdoll! My Quirk is called "Search"! I can monitor up to a hundred people and pick out their location and weak points!"

Mandalay grinned. "I'll use my "Telepathy" to instruct and advise multiple people at once."

"I'll be using my "Earth Flow" to create training grounds fit for each of you respectively!" Pixie-Bob added.

The last of the Pussycats- and the only male amongst them- clenched his paw-like gloves with a dangerous smile on his face. "I'm Tora…I will be in charge of kicking, punching, and other…violent services…"

That was a little terrifying for a good majority of the students.

"I told you this was gonna be hard," Aizawa grinned widely. "Like I said, kids: Try not to die."

* * *

Aizawa hadn't been exaggerating. As soon as the training started, it was full-throttle, merciless, and downright abusive. Military training was often considered really difficult, but that seemed like affection compared to this.

In other words, it was pure hell.

Katsuki was unleashing an endless amount of small explosions in a barrel of hot water, which made him sweat more. Since the tremors reverberated through the water with each explosion, it made his bones rattle after a while and once he had managed to sweat enough, he would pull his hands out of the water and unleash the biggest explosion he could over his head. He repeated that until he was dehydrated, got a drink, and then went back at it.

Hanta had to shoot his tape out of his elbows as fast as he could without stopping until his skin dried out. Minoru was plucking the purple spheres off of his head until he bled and then continued to pluck them as they reformed more slowly.

Denki had been propped up on a tower of earth made by Pixie-Bob's Quirk and had his hands wrapped around cables attached to a generator, which pumped electricity into him that he then had to discharge even when he began to short-circuit. His normally amusing "whee" was more like constant screaming now.

Pixie-Bob had also created a large, dense cave for Fumikage, who was wrestling for control with Dark Shadow inside and shrieking all the while. No one could really see what was going on in there and Aizawa didn't actually want anyone to try; that would end rather badly if Dark Shadow took a potshot at them.

Ochako was floating herself in the air and spinning around until she was sick, but even after vomiting twice already she had to remain afloat. Also on the list of ill-looking individuals was Yuga, who had already fired off his laser so much that his stomach was killing him, but there was no stopping.

Rikido was at a table intaking copious amounts of sugar from soda, cake, and other desserts while lifting heavy weights at the same time to increase the time limit and power of his Sugar Rush Quirk. Momo was at the same table and basically wasn't allowed to stop eating at all- she had to keep up the amount of fats in her body and immediately use her Quirk to create objects as fast as she could. Both of them looked ready to throw up at any second, but forced themselves to continue.

The havoc didn't stop there.

Eijirou and Tetsutetsu had to endure endless abuse from Mashirao and Itsuka, who were hitting their hardening Quirks with their tail and enlarged hands respectively until they were bleeding and bruised. If they wasn't giving their classmates enough…affection, Tora came over and gave the two Augmentation-Type Quirk users a beating himself.

Aizawa walked around the hellscape they'd created to observe his students- though he and Vlad had some members of their classes mixed, they were each focusing primarily on their own class. The Pussycats were the ones jumping from one class to another.

He looked up at a large, steep mountain Pixie-Bob had made and observed as Tsuyu, Toru, and Hitoshi climbed it. Although Hitoshi had been brought to the Summer Training Camp, his body wasn't yet in the same kind of shape as the Heroics Course students.

 _"Your Quirk is similar to mine in some ways," he'd explained to the tired-looking teenager before the training-from-hell had begun. "So that means your combat skills are going to depend a lot on how in-shape you are. We'll work on your Quirk, but you'll also be doing intense physical training to catch up to the other students in the Heroics Course. It'll be like shoving three months of hard work into a week. Prepare yourself."_

Judging from his progress, Aizawa could tell Hitoshi had a long way to go to catch up with the others, but despite the difficulty of the training, Hitoshi hadn't given up yet. Well, it was just the first day, after all.

Whether he made it into the Heroics Course or not would depend on if he could not just survive, but thrive over this next week.

Aizawa made his way over to a large, bowl-like structure Pixie-Bob had created and walked through a narrow entrance to find Izuku and Shoto still working their asses off.

Their training was all about pushing their temperature limits and increasing the output of their Quirks. Izuku was struggling to stand as he held his Overdrive mode as long as he could, even as his limbs went numb, and boosted the temperature of the plasma until his skin started to burn. Shoto was sitting in a large barrel of water which he repeatedly froze and thawed with intense blasts of ice and flame, forcing himself to increase or decrease the temperature as much as he could each time and making his body get used to it.

Aizawa had put them together for a reason, although they didn't know it yet.

"Both of you, stop," he ordered.

The teenagers glanced at him and stopped their power output, almost collapsing until their teacher gave them a warning look. "No, don't relax. I'm not giving you a break. This is where things are going to get hard."

They didn't like the sound of that. This _wasn't_ hard already?

"I don't think I have to remind the two of you what happened at the end of your fight in the Sports Festival, do I?" Aizawa muttered. When the boys shook their heads, he went on. "We're going to repeat it. Izuku, you're going to "borrow" Shoto's fire and hold that mode for three seconds. At that point, I'll erase your Quirk."

Izuku blanched. "Huh?"

"You heard me."

"B-but that almost destroyed me last time!"

"That's the point!" Aizawa snapped, making the teenager flinch. "Whatever it is you did, that appears to be the current "upper limit" of your Quirk. That you can't even control it makes it dangerous for you and the others if you ever have to use it again. Exposing your body to those extreme temperatures, even for a few short seconds, will help build up your heat resistance until you can actively handle them."

"Also, consider this your "remedial lesson" for barely passing your exam! Momo got a decent grade, but you almost flunked it by letting that 100% shot off in a building and breaking your finger! Shoto, this is part of your extra lessons for failing!"

"I'm sure All Might already made this clear to both of you," his glaring eyes flickered from Izuku to Shoto. "U.A isn't going to coddle a single one of you. You don't get any luxuries for having stronger-than-average Quirks. The whole reason you're here is to push past your limits and you _will_ do it unless you feel like dropping out before your first year is up."

Izuku swallowed hard and glanced at Shoto, who merely nodded and stood up in the barrel. Aizawa backed off some, but stayed close enough to use his Quirk on Izuku when he needed to.

Izuku held his hand up and tried to forcibly remove the fire from Shoto's body like he had before at the Sports Festival. It took him a few seconds, but eventually Shoto felt that uncomfortable tugging in his stomach, and then a river of fire poured out of his left side.

The flames surged at Izuku and engulfed him in a cocoon of oppressive heat as they were transmuted from red to emerald, becoming white closer to the teenager's body. All five of the large jade fireballs formed around him, hovering in a steady orbit.

It felt like he was being burned alive and three seconds seemed like eternal agony, but then Aizawa's Quirk erased his and the emerald fire sputtered out. Izuku fell to his knees with a gasp, his skin sensitive with pain from the blast of heat. With a word from Aizawa, Shoto launched a stream of ice at Izuku, which enveloped him and hissed as it melted until Izuku's temperature had fallen to healthier levels.

Aizawa grunted in satisfaction as he turned away. "Recover yourself and start your training from before again. I'll be back in half an hour- we'll repeat this exercise then."

Izuku just nodded, still panting for breath while Shoto endured the cold ice as the fire aspect of his Quirk slowly returned to him.

Their teacher left the dome, but paused to study how patches of the ground around Izuku had been fused from the heat. He shook his head as he went to check on his other students. _There's no point in pushing them if we don't push the very limit of what they can handle. His Quirk is a danger even to himself as long as he can't handle its maximum output. The goal of this training is not only for him to be able to touch that maximum output with his fingertips, but to grasp it in his hands. Even if it is situational, it'll help him get used to handling extreme temperatures._

He ducked under some rubble that had been sent flying from somewhere and approached his next group of victims. "Hey, remedials! I'm not seeing enough action out of you lot!"

"S-sorry!" Mina yelped as she released more of her acid. It was started to wear away at her own skin. "Owowowow, it stings!"

"Get over it," Aizawa cast a glare towards several of his students. "None of you are getting through this the easy way! Especially those of you who were exposed during the Practical Exams! You remedial bunch who failed get to have extra lessons with me from ten PM until two AM! Think long and hard about why you'll have to work so much harder than the others!"

"That includes you, Ochako! Yuga!" He leered at the pair of students who still looked utterly sick to their stomachs. "You two are on my shit list, too! You didn't fail the exam, but you were pretty close! The cutoff was thirty points and you squeezed by with a thirty-five!"

Ochako's face somehow became whiter as she floated, but she wisely refused to open her mouth in case she threw up again. Yuga trembled as his gut wracked with another tremor.

Katsuki grit his teeth as his arms shook with pain from the constant, rattling explosions. He threw his hands out of the water and let another massive blast erupt from his palms with a furious scream. _"GODDAMMMIIIIIT!"_

Aizawa glanced into the woods and spotted Tenya running through the forest as fast as he could, kicking apart Pixie-Bob's earth beasts and weaving through the trees at the same time. Nearby, Koji was trying to extend the range of his voice and bring as many animals (mostly insects, to his terror) under his influence.

He made his rounds, pausing briefly to do a progress check with Vlad, then checked his watch. Almost thirty minutes had passed- oh look, time to make Izuku and Shoto suffer again. Woohoo.

* * *

After nearly eleven hours of abuse, the students were finally told to stop for the day. Every single one of them was exhausted beyond what they thought was possible and hurt in places they didn't know were capable of hurting.

Once they all changed out of their ragged uniforms, they gathered outside again to find that the Pussycats had set up a table filled with ingredients for curry, but the Pros weren't about to cook for them as they had the night before.

"We told you guys yesterday was the only day we were gonna help you out, right?" Pixie-Bob giggled at the beat-up students. "We meant it!"

"If you wanna eat, get off your butts and cook it yourself!" Ragdoll exclaimed in glee. "Curry! Curry!"

Izuku walked over to one of the tables with the intent to start chopping up the vegetables. He'd cooked his fair share thanks to his mom teaching him how. He reached for one of the large knives, only for someone to grab another knife right next to it.

Katsuki leered at him. "I'll do it."

"Why?"

"I'm better than you, that's why."

Izuku felt his normally cool temper thin- he was tired and not in the mood for this. "Really?"

"Damn straight."

"You're better than me at cooking?"

"Yeah," Katsuki turned his body to face him, a scowl forming on his face. "Got something to say about it?"

"You bet I do," Izuku retorted, grabbing the other knife.

The two teenagers glared at each other dangerously and no one was quiet comfortable with them holding knives while they were like that. But no one was also brave enough to get close to them. Their eyes gleamed as they twirled the knives in their hands for a few seconds.

What followed was a sight Class 1-A would eventually get used to, but was completely unprepared for at the time.

"Deku, you bastard! Give me the spice now or I'll blow you up!"

"You already used half of the spice! That stuff isn't even edible anymore!"

"I don't care, give it to me, you shit!"

"Fuck off before I break your arm!"

The students and the Pussycats recoiled from the frenzy of chopping knives, roaring flames, and stream of curses. They stared, dumbfounded beyond belief, as Izuku and Katsuki bolted around the tables, grabbing ingredients and cooking at speed. Neither of the two boys seemed even remotely like the type to cook, but they seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

The most unbelievable part of this new interaction was that Izuku was snapping back at Katsuki with zero fear and no restraint, cussing his friend/rival out like a sailor. The normally bashful and nerdy teenager took a backseat for this new, aggressive Izuku, who took the reins and fought with Katsuki as equals.

Over how to best make curry.

"What kind of little bitch eats curry that doesn't have lots of spice?!"

"How about the kind that likes to actually live through their meal?! There's such a thing as too much spice, dumbass!"

"You want a piece of me, you damn nerd?!"

"Bring it, asshole!"

Ochako leaned further away from the flying kitchen utensils. "Uh…sh-shouldn't we stop them?"

"Do _you_ wanna go over there and say something?" Denki gulped. "I choose life, thanks."

Fumikage eyed the pair of raging teenagers warily. "What happens if they actually start fighting? They'll destroy everything…"

"If they keep me from eating dinner, they're both going to die," Mina grumbled.

"Can…can we all just take a moment to figure out why Izuku knows how to curse like that?" Eijirou asked the others weakly. "What happened to our cinnamon roll?"

Tenya bravely strode over to stand in front of the two feuding teens. "Cease this behavior at once! It is unbecoming of two students of U.A to engage in such-"

"FUCK OFF, FOUR EYES!" Both of them yelled in perfect sync. Somehow, this made them even angrier.

Tenya wisely retreated after witnessing a flash of death before the fury of Izuku and Katsuki. He was in shock that Izuku had actually told him to fuck off, as was the rest of the class watching. All they could do was stay put and wait for this ride to be over.

"I'll still make better food without the spice, Deku! This is fine, you need me to be handicapped anyway if it's gonna be fair!"

"Don't come bitching to me later when you lose and use that as an excuse!"

"The fuck did you say?!"

"You wanna fight?!"

They clenched their fists, nose to nose with each other and glaring bloody murder. Everyone watching thought for sure this was where the fighting began and tensed until the boys broke apart and bolted around again to continue cooking.

"Mine's gonna be done first!"

"Mine'll taste better, you moron!"

In the end, the pair of them didn't actually fight, but they made a ton of curry that impressed even the Pussycats.

As soon as they sat down, Eijirou took a single bite of the curry and whipped his head towards the pair of teenagers with sparkles in his eyes. "YOU GUYS CAN COOK!?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "I mean, just a little bit, I guess?"

"Oh, Deku went back to normal!" Ochako exclaimed.

"This is so good!" Tetsutetsu was almost sobbing in joy as he shoveled down mouthfuls of curry. "I feel like I'm eating from the hands of the gods!"

"You guys need to cook for us all the time!" Hanta agreed before stuffing his mouth with another bite.

Izuku's face reddened in embarrassment. "I only know a few simple dishes…It's nothing special."

"Speak for yourself," Katsuki grumbled, having calmed down now that he could eat.

"Th…they can cook…" Pixie-Bob's eyes gleamed as she tasted the delicious curry. She almost jumped over one of the tables to get at Izuku and Katsuki. "DIBS! I CALL DIBS!"

Fortunately, Tora was there to catch his teammate before she could smother the two boys with her desperate affection. "At least wait until they're of age."

"Noooooo!"

Shoto looked over at Izuku. "Could you teach me how to make this? I think my mother might like it."

"Sure!" Izuku agreed with a smile. "It's not hard."

Denki glanced down the table and almost choked as he saw Momo devouring curry like an endless black hole. "Damn, Momo! You're a bottomless pit!"

"Mmhm," she managed as she swallowed another bite and only spoke once her mouth was no longer full. "My Quirk lets me convert fat at the atomic level to create different objects, so my appetite is greater if I use it a lot."

Katsuki paused and thought about something for a moment before suddenly standing up to stare at her. "Wait a minute! Is that why you're taller than me?! Because you eat so much more?!"

Momo's lips spread in a teasing smile. "Maaaybe~"

Hanta realized something and remarked on it without thinking. "So the more you consume, the more you create? Kinda like poop?"

Ochako and Kyoka promptly sent the thoughtless teenager flying with a touch of anti-gravity and a world-class slap as Momo started to cry.

Izuku waved his hands at the embarrassed girl in an attempt to comfort her. "N-nobody thinks about your Quirk like that, Momo! After all, y-you can make almost anything with your Quirk! I've even seen you make grenades!"

Katsuki stopped mid-chew and whipped his head up towards Momo. "You can make _grenades?!"_

"Dude, she's made a fucking _cannon_ before," Denki told him.

"Yeah, but grenades are fucking _awesome!"_

"You're biased!"

"Of course I am, dumbass!"

Momo sniffled and looked at her fellow students with big, watery eyes. "Y-you guys really don't think my Quirk is poop?"

All of Class A and B gulped at the sight. _She's too cute!_

"Your Quirk is awesome, Momo!"

"I certainly can't just make all that cool stuff whenever I want to!"

"Any guy can do what Hanta's Quirk does since he just shoots a bunch of sticky white stuff like-"

"We're trying to _eat_ here, dammit!" Katsuki yelled as he blasted Minoru sky high to keep him from finishing his sentence.

Momo returned to her happy, bubbly self in seconds. "Thank you, everyone!"

Izuku smiled a bit to himself and returned to eating, but he paused when he caught sight of the child in Mandalay's care- Kota, he recalled- walking off on his own into the woods. Last night before they all went to bed, he'd asked her about why the child was so aggressive and angry looking all the time, but the answer wasn't what he'd been expecting at all.

Kota's parents had been heroes- killed in the line of duty defending civilians from a rampaging villain. As Izuku recalled, they'd been known as the Water Horse duo, a team that specialized in putting out fires and aquatic rescues. They hadn't been prepared to fight a heavily combat-oriented villain, but managed to wound him enough so he was captured later. Even so, just wounding the villain had cost them their lives.

Izuku remembered seeing the announcement of their death on the news. It hadn't gone into details, but he'd gathered enough to realize it had been a violent, bloody end for the Water Horses.

His parents were praised as heroes despite their death, which only made Kota angry. To him, heroes were unfathomable people whom he found unpleasant. For a child his age, there was no way he'd be able to understand what was going on. After all, his life had revolved around his parents, and now that they were gone, it was as though he were surrounded by heroes because he had nowhere else to go.

Izuku poked at his curry with his spoon as he thought about it. Kota was the complete opposite of Eri. Eri had been timid and desperate for someone to save her- she'd latched onto Izuku and was happy with him. Because he'd protected her. Because she needed someone like him in her life. Needed a hero.

Kota wanted nothing to do with heroes at all. He didn't desire contact- he rejected it. Izuku wanted to help him somehow, but…what was he supposed to do?

He sighed. He wished All Might were here…

Izuku got up and went to go prepare a new bowl of curry. He might not be able to help Kota much right now, but he could at least bring the kid some dinner.

"Deku, where are you going?"

He paused and glanced over his shoulder as Ochako walked over to put her dirty dishes up. Izuku offered her a small smile. "I'm just gonna go make sure Kota has something to eat. He took off without getting any of the curry."

"Kota? You mean that little boy?"

"Mmhm," Izuku nodded, a little bashful. "It's…how do I put this…Maybe it's because Eri is around me all the time these days, but I don't want to see a kid like him all on his own, y'know?"

Ochako inclined her head, smiling somewhat. "I think I get it. Want me to come with you?"

"Y-you don't have to. I know you're tired."

"So are you, you goof," she giggled. "I don't mind tagging along. Do you know where he went?"

"No," Izuku walked over to where he'd last seen Kota and glanced down at the dirt. "But his footprints aren't that hard to follow."

* * *

Kota, as it turned out, had found a rocky outcropping overlooking the training camp. It was a quiet little spot, not too far from the building, but far enough away to give the kid some privacy. Needless to say, he hadn't counted on Izuku and Ochako finding him.

Izuku could hear the boy's stomach rumbling from a few paces away and offered a smile as they approached him. "You must be starving."

Kota's head whipped towards them with a mixture of surprise and anger. "You- how'd you find my secret base?!"

"Sorry," Ochako apologized. "We followed your footprints. Deku said you hadn't eaten yet, so we brought you some curry."

"What part of I don't wanna hang out with a bunch of fuckers who wanna be heroes didn't you get?!" Kota snapped, turning his head away. "Get lost, you aren't welcome here! This is my spot!"

Izuku hesitated for a moment. "Your parents were the Water Horses, weren't they?"

That only seemed to piss him off even more. "Mandalay opened up her big mouth, huh?!"

"Ah, no, no!" Izuku shook his head. "It wasn't her, I…I kinda figured it out myself. I…"

He hesitated. Was bringing up Kota's parents really a good idea? Izuku…well, he didn't like it when anyone asked him about his father at all…but that was different, sort of. Viper was a villain, the Water Horses were heroes, and yet…

"What?" Kota growled. "You've got a stupid look on your face."

"…Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," Izuku looked down at his feet. "I know what it's like to not want to hear about your parents from everyone around you, okay? I know it sucks, so…if you need to talk to anyone…"

"What the hell would _you_ know?" Kota demanded, scowling at him. "Even if you say that, you're still an idiot for wanting to be a hero! All you fuckers running around, calling yourselves heroes and villains and killing each other with your powers…you all make me sick!"

"I get where you're coming from," he admitted, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "I understand what it's like to reject something you don't want, but…It only hurts you more. It doesn't make things better. I…"

Ochako frowned and looked at Izuku as he trailed off. Where was he going with this? "Deku?"

Izuku was quiet for a few moments before he looked at Kota. "You know that villain on the news lately? Heat Viper?"

Kota's eyes narrowed, not answering him, but Izuku went on anyway. "…He's my dad."

"Then you're _even worse_ than the rest of these fuckers," Kota snarled. "I'm glad I kicked you in the balls. Don't ever have kids, you piece of shit."

"Hey!" Ochako finally snapped in her friend's defense. "Deku's just trying to-"

"-It's fine, Ochako," Izuku interrupted her before kneeling to set the bowl of curry down on the ground. "I'm sorry we bothered you, Kota."

He got up and walked off. Ochako glanced back at Kota one more time, who turned away from them before she hurried after Izuku.

* * *

The walk back to the campsite was quiet; the sun had set and the moon had risen, bringing with it the soft songs of crickets. Izuku didn't say anything for a few minutes and Ochako wasn't sure what to say to him. His demeanor was a lot more subdued than it was before. She hadn't expected Izuku to tell Kota about his parentage in an attempt to make some kind of connection to the boy, but she'd been even less prepared for the sheer venom Kota retaliated with.

Was that something he had to deal with all the time now that people knew he was Viper's child? If even a little boy like Kota had such harsh words for Izuku…what did the adults say?

What was she supposed to do to help him with this? Should she say something, or…She wasn't sure what to do.

She needed to find some way to cheer him up. Yeah…something fun.

Ochako glanced around and spotted a little clearing off the trail where she thought she might be able to do just that. "Hey, Deku?"

"Yeah?"

"Come here for a sec," she grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the trail, much to his surprise.

"Wh-where are we going?"

"Just right here!" She told him as they reached the clearing. It was a small space, no more than maybe five meters across at its widest point. Maybe because it was so small it felt a little more secret…a little more comfortable. Moonlight filtered through the trees, casting the grass in silver.

Ochako spun around to face him, offering the boy a playful smile. "Do you trust me?"

Izuku frowned. "Yeah, of course I do…"

"Good!" She took his wrists in her hands, causing him to blush slightly. Ochako's Quirk activated as her fingertips touched his skin and before he knew it, he was floating off the ground. Alarmed, he grabbed her wrists himself to keep himself from floating into the sky.

"Wha-"

"Just," she stopped him with a smile as he started to float above her, but she didn't let go of his wrists. "Trust me. 'Kay?"

He swallowed and nodded. "Okay…"

Ochako waited until he'd floated up so his body was almost parallel to the ground, just a little bit higher up than she was tall. Once he was floating like that, suspended in air thanks to her Quirk, she slowly started to twirl around, swinging him in a circle.

It was such a silly and childish thing to do; something her father had often done when she was a kid, but she loved it. Before she knew it, she was giggling at the sight of Izuku flying around like that, holding onto her wrists for dear life, but somehow still finding it in him to grin and enjoy the rush of it.

"Let's try this!" Ochako exclaimed, slowly bringing their spiral to a halt so she could shift Izuku directly above her so he was upside-down. It made his shirt fall up to his arms, but that only made them laugh more. "Wait a second, I'll change the angle…"

She had to pull his body slightly so she could leverage him to a position a bit closer to the ground, but doing so accidentally brought his face a little closer to hers than either of them were entirely comfortable with. Almost nose to nose, the pair of teenagers immediately blushed at the proximity and Ochako let Izuku's wrists go with a startled yelp.

Panicking, Izuku reached back for her and managed to take her hands by interlocking their fingers. It kept him from floating away, but their cheeks were stained an even hotter red now.

Izuku managed to right himself so he was hovering above the grass by just a few inches, looking anywhere but at Ochako. He wasn't able to ignore how their hands felt, pressed up to each other palm-to-palm with their fingers woven together. Her hands were smaller than his, and softer, without the scarring he was certain she could feel on his hands. Each of the pads on her fingertips were squeezing on his knuckles; they felt like the pads of a cat's paws, but smoother.

"I have to let you go to release my Quirk," Ochako murmured quietly, causing him to flit his eyes back to her. She smiled at him apologetically. "Trust me?"

"Of course."

Slowly, almost reluctantly, she let go of his hands and put her fingertips together. Izuku felt gravity return to his body and lightly touched the ground, regaining his balance with ease. Ochako tilted her head to one side. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem."

Izuku glanced down at her hand and bit his lip. He…he kind of wanted to…

Would she mind?

"Deku?" Ochako asked when she saw him become quiet and a little contemplative.

He hesitantly reached for her left hand with his right, his blush deepening, until his fingers just barely brushed against hers. Ochako reddened at the touch, but reciprocated by pushing back with her hand.

Their fingers intertwined a little awkwardly this time, and the attempts to reposition made it seem like they were just messing with each others' hands. After a few moments, that's what it became; a little game where they kind of jostled their fingers in a playful sort of way. The tension lifted as Ochako giggled and Izuku let out a short laugh, finding it a little funny somehow.

It was such a silly, dorky thing to do. And they liked it.

* * *

 **A/N: Shorter chapter for the training and just a little fluff...because it's the last of the fluff you're gonna see for a long...long...time...**


	24. Goodbye, Peaceful Days

_Chapter Twenty Four: Goodbye, Peaceful Days_

On a cliff overlooking the campsite of the U.A students about a mile away, a group of four people stopped to observe the area. Three of them looked like they were little more than teenagers or young adults. The other was a hulking beast of a man, wearing a cloak and a mask over his face.

Himiko was still pouting over her costume design. She was wearing a mask that covered her nose and mouth and a scarf-like cloth around her neck, which was adorned with a design like the bared teeth of a vampire. On her back was a machine that resembled a scuba tank of sorts, but it was attached to a tube with a syringe. "Ugh…this is _soooo_ not cute at all!"

"Don't complain," said a boy who was even shorter than she was- Mustard, or so he was known as a villain. He had a gas mask like something out of Star Wars covering his face, right down to the muffled voice. The only thing giving away his age was the black school uniform he wore. "These were made by an underground designer. How they look is of no concern as long as they serve their purpose and function."

"This is me caring!" Himiko retorted. "It's not hard to make something look cute!"

"Who cares, just let me at them already," Muscular growled behind his mask. "I wanna smash something! I'm too pumped to wait!"

"Shut up, you psychopaths," Dabi glanced at them over his shoulder. He didn't have any new equipment from the underground designer; then again, he didn't really care about that. "It's not time to engage them yet. Not until the entire vanguard is here."

They didn't have long to wait before a portal- courtesy of Kurogiri- opened up. Through it came six more individuals, each of them menacing in their own way.

"Sorry we're late~" Apologized a woman with large lips and a distinctly male appearance. She wore casual clothing; a plain white shirt, a jacket, and jeans, but hefted a long, thick metallic rod over one shoulder. This villain was called Magne.

Moonfish was also with them, his teeth chattering relentlessly. "Job…job…"

Spinner was another male, though one covered in green, reptilian scales with a lizard-like face and claws. His garb was almost identical to Stain's and had been inspired by the design, numerous blades included. He tightened a cloth mask behind his head that exposed his eyes and then smoothed his purple hair back with a grin, ready for action.

Next was an individual in a black and gray full bodysuit, hiding any distinguishing features. Red and blue bands were wound around their wrists and a gray "T" crossed their upper torso in a vertical line from the abdomen.

Behind him was another masked individual wearing a fancy orange overcoat and a black top hat with a feather, along with what looked like the performing cane of a magician. Last in line was a Noumu- one with blue skin, a purple and red helmet covering its eyes, and a steel piece in its mouth to stop it from closing completely.

Dabi's eyes narrowed. "Where's the commander?"

"He'll be here shortly," Kurogiri assured as he started to close the portal. "It's taking his body some time to adjust."

"Do we really need a big shot like him for this?" Muscular scoffed. "It's just a bunch of kids!"

"Those kids have already shown all the weak posers the League of Villains brought into USJ that they're a cut above the rest," Dabi reminded him. "If we're gonna do this, we need a team of people who know what they're doing. Ordinary grunts will just make the job riskier."

"But still…Heat Viper?" Himiko twirled her syringe around casually. "Where's the fun in dropping a bomb like that on them? They'll all die before I can get anyone!"

"You know what the plan is. We're not here to nuke 'em," Dabi said, his lips curling up in a slight grin. "We're just here to teach them and the hero society that their peaceful lives are over."

* * *

The third day of training was finally over and the students had just finished eating dinner (which, of course, was made by another duel courtesy of Izuku and Katsuki). Everyone was still really tired, but there was a fresh, excited energy to them now; the Pussycats had set up a fun little event for them.

"Good job out there, you guys!" Pixie-Bob praised them, her tail swishing behind her. "For all your hard work today we've set up…an inter-class test of courage!"

"It's a simple route," Tora explained. "It's basically a big loop through the forest that should take you about fifteen minutes to get through. In the middle of the route, Ragdoll will be at a table that has cards with your names written on it. Take them back with you as proof that you made it that far! Class B will be the first ones doing the "scaring" part, okay? Class A will go through their test in pairs and then we'll flip-flop and give Class B a chance to wet their pants!"

"The scaring group isn't allowed to touch anyone, but you can use your Quirks to scare them however you want. The winner will be determined by the class with the most creativity and by how many people pissed themselves!"

Most of the class looked pumped up, though Katsuki didn't look like he gave a damn and Shoto was as expressionless as ever. However, before they got started, Aizawa walked over with a sigh.

"Before we begin, and it pains me to say this," he didn't looked that pained at all as he said quite bluntly. "The remedial bunch are having a review lesson with me starting right now."

"NOOO!" Mina screamed and tried to escape, but Aizawa encased her, Rikido, Eijirou, Hanta, and Denki in his capture tape before dragging them away. "Please! I'm sorry! Let us play just a little!"

"Nope, it sucks to be you," Aizawa muttered, glancing at the other two members of his remedial group. "Katsuki, Shoto, you come, too. Don't make me drag all of you."

"Whatever," Katsuki muttered, uncaring about either event. Shoto merely nodded and followed him.

"I guess I'm with you guys?" Hitoshi approached the Class A members with his usual expression, although Izuku couldn't decide if he was bored or just so exhausted he couldn't make another face. Hitoshi was being put through the wringer of physical training as much as the remedial students and it was even more brutal for him since he still needed to catch up.

"Sure, that'll even things out," Mandalay agreed. She did a head count and nodded. "Okay, we've got fourteen students, so…seven pairs! The pairs will be decided by drawing lots!"

After drawing lots, the pairs were as such:

Fumikage and Mezo.

Hitoshi and Toru.

Kyoka and Tsuyu.

Izuku and Ochako.

Mashirao and Minoru.

Momo and Yuga.

Tenya and Koji.

"It's a good thing Hitoshi came along or we'd have had someone going in on their own!" Tenya exclaimed.

Hitoshi shot him an annoyed look. "What am I, some damn extra?"

"Yuga, would you mind switching with me?" Minoru pleaded, hoping to be partners with Momo. Thankfully, Yuga denied him.

"No switching!" Mandalay told them, stopping by the entrance to the trail with Pixie-Bob. "Now, let's get you all in there!"

* * *

Twelve minutes later, the forest was ripe with the screams of the Class A students. It was time for the fourth group to go in and have their…fun.

Pixie-Bob gestured to the next pair with a little grin. "Alright, time for our little green tea kitties to go for it! Try not to wet yourselves!"

With equally nervous gulps, Izuku and Ochako walked down the trail and into the forest. Neither of them were really fond of jump-scare stuff like this, but…well, what were they gonna do?

After about a minute of walking, Ochako thought she saw something in the darkness of the trees and yelped when she heard another scream up ahead. "Wah! This is scary! They're screaming so much!"

Izuku jumped when a second shriek followed the first. "Th-that's gotta be Kyoka or Tsuyu, r-right?"

"Probably," Ochako shivered and hugged her chest nervously. She glanced at Izuku and her eyes trailed down to his hand. "Um, Deku…d-do you mind if we uh…h-hold hands?"

"H-huh?" Izuku's head spun towards her so fast his neck almost cracked. A bright red blush swept over his face until his freckles almost glowed. It was a good thing it was nighttime- the darkness hid the crimson flush.

"I-I mean, it might make it easier," her voice was small and embarrassed. "And, y'know, we won't get separated in the dark…"

He gulped and made a short, quick nod. The two of them hesitantly reached out, almost jumping when their fingers brushed, but managed to interlock their fingers tightly together. Both of their faces grew hot; they were tense, not at all relaxed and playful like they'd been the night before. Remembering that only made their blushes hotter.

An odd scent was suddenly carried down the breeze, causing Izuku to stop in his tracks. He frowned and sniffed the air, making Ochako pause. "What is it?"

"…does it smell like something is burning to you?"

She blinked and inhaled through her nose, wincing a bit at the sharp sting. "Yeah, a little. Maybe someone used their Quirk up ahead."

Izuku didn't move to keep walking. His frown deepened. "No…No one up ahead has a Quirk that can burn things…The only person in the forest right now that can use fire is…me…"

He stiffened and squeezed Ochako's hand tighter. His eyes glanced around at the trees and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. "Something isn't right."

Ochako suddenly caught movement out of the corner of her eye and glanced after it, freezing when she saw a hand flit past a tree. It was just a glimpse, but she could see the skin at the wrist was dark and wrinkled.

She leaned closer to Izuku and whispered under her breath. _"There's someone watching us. On your left…"_

Izuku spotted the movement and tensed as a figure stepped out onto the trail with a lazy kind of sigh. His face blanched at the sight.

This wasn't one of the students.

Dabi had his hands shoved in his pockets as he smirked at the pair of frightened teens. "Well, damn…And here I thought I was sneaking around pretty good. You've got good eyes, little lady."

Izuku gulped and let Ochako's hand go- he'd only hurt her if he ignited his body to fight. "Who are you?"

"Well…I guess I'm your chauffeur, or something like that," Dabi remarked with a shrug. His lips curved into a smile. _"Your dad said it's time to come home."_

Izuku felt a shock of horror go through him. Dabi lifted his hand, blue flames licking at his skin.

"Ochako!" Izuku yanked her behind him and flared up in an instant, holding his hands up to intercept the blast of fire and stop it from surging past him. He transmuted the flames in a matter of seconds and lunged through them at Dabi, activating his Overdrive mode.

Dabi couldn't react in time and was slammed into the ground by a vicious punch from Izuku, who pinned him and shoved the villain's face into the dirt. Izuku jammed his knee between the young man's shoulder blades, pinning one arm to the ground with his hand and taking a fistful of Dabi's hair with the other.

"Wow, it really had no effect, huh?" Dabi smirked over his shoulder. "You're just like your old man, after all."

"Shut up," Izuku growled, plasma arcing off his body as he glared at the villain. "Answer my questions. How many of you are there? What are you here for?"

"Didn't I already tell you? We're here for you," Dabi snorted.

"What else?!"

"Why would I say anything else?"

"Because of this!" Izuku raised the temperature of the plasma until it was scorching Dabi's skin, making the villain groan in pain. "Talk!"

"Should you be trying to make me talk, I wonder?"

Izuku glanced to the side and realized that Dabi still had a free hand- and was taking aim at Ochako, who had started to approach them. At that distance, a full-on blast would mortally injure her.

He reacted on pure instinct and the temperature of his plasma spiked as he shoved down on Dabi's skull. To Izuku shock, what should have been flesh and bone gave way with a loud splatter, and Dabi's body suddenly liquified all at once. He staggered off of the goop and stumbled away from it as his Overdrive cloak dissipated.

Ochako looked horrified. "D-Deku, what-"

"-it was some kind of clone," he cut her off, thoughts racing at a mile a minute. "Which means there's definitely at least two villains out here. We have to go back and tell-"

 _"Everyone!"_ They both jumped as Mandalay's voice rang in their heads, making use of her telepathy. _"Two members of the League of Villains have invaded the area! It's possible there are still more of them around! Those students who are capable, retreat to the lodge immediately! Don't engage them in combat!"_

Izuku bit his lip and turned to head back towards the starting area. "Let's go, we should warn the Pros about these other villains-"

"Deku, wait!" Ochako grabbed his arm as she realized something. "Kota! Kota's probably still at his secret base!"

The teenager blanched. She was right, Kota definitely hadn't been anywhere near the lodge since dinnertime…

"I'll go get him, you go back-"

"I'm going with you!"

"…okay," Izuku let out a shaky breath and took her hand, racing into the forest in the direction of Kota's base. She squeezed his hand as they ran, fully aware that somewhere out there…

Izuku's father might be lying in wait.

* * *

A short distance away, the villain in the black and gray bodysuit was standing on the branch of a tree beside Dabi's real body. He perked up as he felt the clone he'd made disappear. "Dabi! Your clone already died! Why are you so weak?"

"…damn, that's annoying," Dabi muttered with a grimace. "I really am weak, huh?"

"Huh? No you're not! You're strong, man! It's just that we were dealing with your perfect counter this time, you know?!"

"Well, the whole purpose was to figure out where Izuku's position was, so it's technically a success," Dabi shook his head and refocused. "Clone me again, Twice. We're going after those guys in the lodge next, as planned."

"You got it! I'll make as many weaklings as you need! Oh, what about that Noumu they gave you?"

Dabi shrugged. "I set it loose already. It's probably killed one or two people by now."

* * *

Hitoshi hefted the unconscious body of Kosei, one of the Class B students, on his back as he and Toru slipped through the woods towards the lodge. Just behind him, Toru was still coughing from a mysterious gas that they only just now realized must have been from a villain. It had been the cause of the burning scent in the air, but they'd managed to put some distance between them and the gas- although Kosei had been caught in it long enough to fall unconscious.

Toru finally managed to stop coughing. "Ugh…H-Hitoshi, what about the others behind us?"

"We'll have to leave them to Ragdoll," he replied uneasily. "There's nothing you or I can do about the gas…If I found the villain creating it, I might be able to make him stop, but…He's probably hiding in the center of that huge-ass cloud…"

Toru suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Look!"

Hitoshi froze as he spotted a figure kneeling in the middle of the trail, head cocked down to stare at something on the ground. As his eyes studied the person, he felt the blood drain from his face- by their knees was a severed arm.

"Who was ahead of us, again?" He whispered.

"F-Fumikage and Mezo…" She breathed out in horror.

Moonfish almost seemed to be in a trance as he keened at the blood-soaked limb. "It's so pretty…so beautiful…No, I have work…Mustn't be distracted…but it's so…ahh…"

He slowly pushed himself to his feet and sighed. "Such perfect flesh…no, I cannot be captivated any longer…I have work…"

His head cocked towards the teenagers with a sudden jerk, exposed teeth chattering wildly. **"Work."**

Hitoshi grinned nervously. "Feel like chatting with me, you sick fuck?"

* * *

At the lodge, things were not okay.

Aizawa had left the building to help the other Pros, leaving Vlad in charge of defending the remedial students and the others as they arrived. But just a minute after Aizawa took off, Mina spotted a shadow just outside the door of the makeshift classroom. "Guys!"

An eruption of blue flames exploded through the door, stopped only by a quick wall of ice made by Shoto. Dabi's second clone held his hand up for another shot, but Katsuki (who had been standing along the wall near the door) lunged and held his hands close together. "Stun Grenade!"

The swift, bright explosion made the clone squint and recoil, giving Katsuki a chance to grab him by the throat and slam him into the wall.

Katsuki snarled at Dabi, explosions popping off in his free hand. "You fucker…Tell me what you're after and maybe you'll get to keep your head!"

"Katsuki Bakugo, isn't it?" Dabi grinned at him. "What perfect timing. You know, if you hurry, you might be able to go find your buddy Izuku before Viper does."

Katsuki let out a roar and destroyed the clone with a violent explosion before bolting for the exit of the building. Vlad broke through the ice wall and yelled down the hall after him. "Katsuki, come back!"

The explosive teen ignored him and disappeared. Vlad grit his teeth in frustration. "Shit!"

"I can go get him," Shoto offered as he melted the ice. Vlad hesitated, but nodded reluctantly. He couldn't abandon the rest of the students and Shoto was probably one of the strongest people at the camp.

"Don't engage the villains, just get him back here. By force if you have to."

Shoto nodded and ran after Katsuki.

* * *

Kota was shaking in terror as he stared at the massive cloud of gas roiling over the forest beneath him. He could hear Mandalay calling for him with her telepathy, but her Quirk wasn't the kind where she could hear responses. All she could do was call and pray Kota heard her.

"Kota, you heard all that, right?! Please, get back to the lodge! I'm so sorry, I don't know where you go off to all the time! These villains are keeping us too busy to come find you, so please run back to the lodge!"

He made to run for the woods, but stopped dead with a shocked cry. Blocking his path was the huge, cloaked figure of Muscular, still donning his mask.

"Well, what do we have here?" Muscular chuckled as he stared the small child down. "I come around looking for a nice spot to scout the fight out and what do I find? A face not listed in the archives we checked out…"

"Never mind that though, you've got a good hat there, kid! Trade me for this lame-ass mask, okay? I don't know if it's because I'm getting hazed by the boss or whatever, but they're making me wear this damn thing and I hate it!"

Kota spun around and tried to flee in the opposite direction, but Muscular chucked his mask off and leapt after him. The hulking villain hit the rock face of the cliff and dove in front of Kota, blocking his path.

"Sorry about this, but I'm still pretty annoyed," Muscular grinned sadistically as the hood of his cloak was brushed off his head from the rapid movement. His left arm became enveloped in writhing muscle fibers as he clenched his fist. "So imma kill you now and jack that sweet hat you've got!"

Kota stared at the deep scar over the left side of Muscular's face and the artificial eye. Horror shot through his body as he realized who he was staring at. He'd seen a news report the other day on this guy since they were talking about Heat Viper…

 _The villain who killed the Water Horse duo had a simple, but powerful Augmentation-type Quirk that gave him incredible physical strength. Before killing the Water Horses, they managed to weaken him enough to be captured by leaving a deep wound in his left eye. And during the raid that freed the convicts Heat Viper and Moonfish…he also escaped confinement._

"Mom…Dad…!" Kota cried in terror. Muscular swung his huge fist at the boy, intent on crushing him into a pulp.

A blur of motion suddenly swept between them and then Ochako was scooping Kota up as Izuku rushed them out of Muscular's attack range. The villain's fist crashed into the stone where Kota had been as he stared after them with surprise.

Izuku skidded to a stop, supporting Ochako as she took a moment to cancel her Quirk's effect on herself. She'd basically de-weighted herself and grabbed onto Izuku when he leapt for Kota, making it easier for both of them to reach the boy in time.

Muscular scowled as he recognized Izuku. "Oh, great, it's you."

Izuku pushed Ochako and Kota behind him and flared up, his face twisting into a glare as he started using Overdrive. "Ochako, keep Kota safe while I see what this guy is about. If I can figure his Quirk out, I can plan an escape."

"Deku, I don't know…" Ochako said uneasily as she looked at Muscular. "This guy is way different from the villain before…"

"Before? What, you little punks already made one of us kick the bucket?" Muscular's scowl became a sneer. "Well, it'd be a shame if I didn't get to see how you managed that…I might have orders not to kill you, Izuku…but there ain't nobody who said I couldn't smack you around and kill this bitch and that kid!"

Izuku clenched his hands like claws and snarled. "The hell you will! Kota, just wait there with Ochako! We'll save you!"

"Save him, huh?" Muscular crouched and grinned maniacally. "I'd like to see you try. Since you're being a bad kid and resisting capture…lemme see you bleed!"

Muscular lunged at him with surprising speed for someone so large, almost pulverizing Izuku with a huge swing. Izuku _barely_ managed to avoid the punch by retreating to the rock face and had to jump away immediately when a second punch destroyed the stone behind him just a moment before.

Izuku was now in a position behind Muscular and leapt above him, plasma sparking off his arms. Muscular spun around and lifted his arm to block, more muscle fibers swelling around the limb to make it denser. The strike Izuku delivered did little more than singe the thick shield, allowing the villain to simply swat him away.

"The hell is that?!" Muscular cackled. "I thought you had your dad's Quirk! You've got some decent speed, but you might as well have hit me with a firecracker!"

Izuku rolled and regained his balance, skidding to a stop as he glared at Muscular. _His Quirk lets him augment those muscle fibers to boost his strength and speed, but it's a pretty solid defense, too…I can't just beat at them, he'll shrug off anything I throw at 5%. And there's no fire around for me to take advantage of. Dammit, I should've tried to keep the fire that other villain used!_

His eyes narrowed, mind calculating what his options were. _Those fibers…they're most densely concentrated around his arms and shoulders. Hitting those isn't going to get me anywhere. Actually, trying to hit him at any point on his body with lots of muscle in general is probably useless. That covers a lot of weak spots since he's a pretty buff guy, but even so…_

Izuku's gaze locked on the scar where Muscular's left eye used to be. _Even if your body is that strong…your head is still a big weak point._

"I'm already getting a high off of this," Muscular grinned, rolling his arm a few times like he was warming up. "Seeing you struggle around, powerless…It's making me excited!"

"H-hey!"

Izuku froze as Kota suddenly cried out, regaining Muscular's attention. The boy was still clinging onto Ochako, but he was looking at Muscular with a mix of terror and anger on his face as tears slipped down his cheeks. "Water Horse…My mom and dad…did you torment them too when you killed them?!"

Muscular stared at the child in surprise. "Wait, seriously? You're those heroes' kid? Damn…this must be fate or something…"

His face became sadistic again. "Water Horse…that damn hubby-wife duo that took my eye out and got me locked up for a while! Yeah, you bet your ass I put them through hell, kid! I don't have any grudge towards them for my eye or prison sentence…I just wanted to kill and they wanted to stop me. What happened was just because our paths intersected and I was stronger!"

He lunged at Ochako and Kota, muscle fibers swelling around his arms. "Your pathetic mom and dad died in vain! Let me send you after them!"

"No you don't!" Izuku bolted after him and leapt into the air.

Muscular spun back around with a grin, having anticipated Izuku's attempt to stop him. "You ain't getting the jump on me, kid!"

Izuku thrust his hand forward, managing to get it caught between some of the muscle fibers to keep Muscular from avoiding his next attack. The villain saw that move and grinned wildly as his left arm clenched to strike back. "You caught me, now what?! Gonna clock me with another weak-ass punch?!"

But Muscular froze as he took in Izuku's face. The teenager's expression was one of deadly certainty and the villain realized something about his power had changed.

Izuku didn't have the luxury to be careful and he knew it. He didn't have the luxury to worry about whether this attack would end up killing the villain- this was life and death. Plasma surged around his right arm in massive bolts as he charged up a shot at 100% and went for Muscular's head. The villain's left arm flew up in an attempt to block instead of attack.

"100% Detroit Smash!"

The impact was devastating, blasting Muscular into the rock face with a shockwave of energy that threw Ochako and Kota off the cliff, but the girl managed to make them float with her Quirk and prevent them from falling to their deaths. Izuku rolled away from the huge crater he'd created and swore- his right arm was broken, but more importantly, Muscular had managed to block the headshot with his arm.

He didn't know if that had been enough to knock Muscular unconscious, but Izuku didn't care- they had their opening and Ochako was already floating. He scrambled to his feet and leapt off the cliff after her, letting his Overdrive cloak dissipate as he reached for her hand. "Ochako!"

"I've got you!" She clapped his hand and got her Quirk activated on him, causing Izuku to float as well. He used the momentum of his jump to push them further away from the cliff and towards the lodge in the distance.

Kota stared at his broken right arm with fright. "Y-your arm-!"

"I'll be fine," Izuku gasped, glancing over his shoulder towards the cliff. "More importantly is he-"

"LOOK OUT!" Ochako screamed.

Muscular was already in the air, having launched himself off the cliff with the muscle fibers enhancing his legs. He was bleeding and definitely hurt, but he still had that sadistic grin on his face and seemed even more excited than before. "Starting off with a little jab, huh?! That wasn't half bad, Izuku!"

Izuku spun and hurled Ochako and Kota further away through the air towards the lodge, twisting again to intercept Muscular as the villain crashed into him.

He managed to grab Muscular's arm when the villain punched at him, but the impact still cracked several of his ribs and had him choking up blood. For a moment, Izuku was stunned as they flew through the air, but Muscular still had gravity working against him, so they began to fall towards the starting point of the Pussycat's test of courage route. Below them, Izuku could see the Pussycats and a few students facing off with two or three more villains.

Muscular laughed and wound up his other arm as blood flew from Izuku's mouth. "Yes! BLOOD! I want blood! Bleed more for me, Izuku!"

"Screw you!" Izuku snarled, swinging his body over Muscular's arm and flaring up again. Now above and behind the villain, he charged up another shot at 100% in his finger and flicked down, shooting Muscular towards the ground below. The blast of wind made him fly higher up, launching him after Ochako and Kota.

Ochako reached out and grabbed his unbroken arm as he flew by, the momentum of which pulled her and Kota along. "Deku!"

"Throw me at him just like this!" Izuku shouted, not letting his eyes leave Muscular's form as the villain prepared to land amongst the battle below them. "I have to take him out!"

"Okay!" Ochako threw him down after Muscular like a human missile and Izuku further propelled himself by using Overdrive and spinning, building up momentum to close the distance as fast as he could. His eyes locked onto the back of Muscular's skull.

 _I'm not gonna miss that goddamn head of yours this time!_

Muscular crashed into the ground between the Pussycats and the other villains, cushioning his fall with his muscle fibers, but making an impact heavy enough to leave a crater beneath him. He was dazed by the crash, and in the time it took him to recover and start to stand up, Izuku delivered a vicious finishing punch.

 _"100% Hulkbuster Smaaaaash!"_

It was a clean shot- and dealt catastrophic damage.

Muscular was absolutely pulverized into the dirt and sent skidding through the terrain with such force that his body was actually buried headfirst up to his waist. He didn't lose momentum for nearly thirty feet, even with his bulky form dragging through the earth around him. When he finally stopped, his legs flopped over and went limp.

Izuku had been launched upward again from the wind pressure, but at such an angle that he was flying towards the heroes and not the villains.

"Deku!"

Katsuki was suddenly there, launching himself into the air with his explosions to intercept Izuku as he flew. Izuku crashed into him, but Katsuki managed to get a hold of him and his weight let them fall back to the earth around the Pussycats.

Pixie-Bob stared at him in shock. "Where the hell did you even come from?!"

"Sorry!" Izuku winced as he touched down- he still had no gravity because of Ochako's Quirk, but she couldn't release when she and Kota were still floating above the battle. "Things got a little messy, but Kota's safe!"

Well, safe was a relative term since Kota was technically a hundred or so feet in the air, but that was better than being down here at the moment. As long as the villains didn't notice them up there…

"And your arms are fucked up!" Katsuki hissed, spinning towards Shoto. They had just reached the Pussycats when Muscular fell out of the sky and Izuku pulverized him. "Make some ice!"

Shoto didn't argue- he could tell that Izuku needed some kind of treatment. In addition to his arms being broken, his skin was burnt from the hyper-charged plasma he generated at 100%. While he did his best to relieve some of the pain Izuku was going through, Katsuki twisted his head to yell at Mandalay.

"Mandalay! We ran into Eraser Head on our way out here! He said to tell you to broadcast a message to the other students out here!"

"What is it?" She asked, pacing from side to side as she studied the villains across from them.

The villains recovered from their shock relatively quickly, though they were a little more way now that the number of enemies had doubled.

Magne whistled as she studied the trail of ruin all the way up to Muscular's immobile body- or what she could see of it. "Wheeeeew! That kid really fucked him _up!_ Is he even alive after that?"

"That kid…he's the one we have to capture, Magne," Spinner said after studying Izuku. He brandished a huge weapon that consisted of many different blades all clumped together in the general shape of a big sword. "We gotta get through these heroes and get him!"

"I'd love to, but that kitty making the ground fly all over the place is an eyesore," Magne pouted with a lazy grin. Her eyes flitted up to the moon in an attempt to judge the time. "What to do, what to do…"

"Well, our backup should be here soon enough."

* * *

Hitoshi grit his teeth as he and Toru hid behind a tree from Moonfish- this guy was bad news in all the worse kinds of ways. Kosei was still unconscious, but they had bigger problems.

Moonfish was propped up several meters in the air on shapeshifting blades- his teeth, which could apparently extend and stretch quickly for some distance. Even now, he was using them to probe the forest for his prey, stabbing into bushes and trees in search of the teenagers.

"Meat…meat…" He chanted, his teeth chattering.

Toru was beside Hitoshi and after glancing past the tree at the villain, she whispered in fright. "We can't stay here."

"I know," Hitoshi glanced down the trail, but making a break for it the way they'd come wasn't an option. There was still a huge gas cloud there. "But we can't go back towards Ragdoll, either."

"Why isn't your Quirk working?" She asked. "He definitely responded to you!"

"I'm not sure," Hitoshi carefully looked around the tree to study Moonfish. "The way he's chanting, it's like…It's like he's in a trance or something…I don't think he's actually directly responding to me and that's why my Quirk isn't taking hold of him. If I could snap him out of whatever he's doing, I might have a shot at controlling him, but those blades are so fast he'll skewer me before I get a word in."

"So what, we just…we sit and wait for backup?"

Hitoshi bit his lip. "I don't think we have another choice."

 _"Everyone!"_ Mandalay's voice rang in their heads all of a sudden and they had to force down a flinch. _"I have a message from Eraser Head for all of you! All of the students are hereby authorized for combat!"_

 _That's fine and all, but we still can't do anything here!_ Hitoshi thought in annoyance. Dammit, of all the villains they could get stuck with, it was a long-range type who wasn't easy to brainwash. This was the worst!

A sudden rumbling sound made them freeze and Moonfish paused in his probing to turn further down the trail. His teeth chattered again and he shot more of the long blades into the dark of the forest, in search of the source, only to be smashed aside by a massive claw of darkness.

Trees were thrown aside as Fumikage emerged, overwhelmed by Dark Shadow. The normally obedient, shadowy monster had completely taken over Fumikage and was now monstrous in his size and power. His form now made the power he wielded at the Sports Festival look like a joke.

Moonfish was thrown like a toy doll and bounced along the ground before stopping face-down. His body trembled and his teeth elongated again, pushing himself back onto his feet. "Meat…my meat…Nonononono! I'm the one who gets to cut the meat! No one else!"

His tooth-blades shot at Dark Shadow and speared through the huge limb and part of the monster's face. But Dark Shadow's eyes only glared at him with with condescension. "You don't get to make demands, you insect!"

The next huge swing of shadowy claws shredded through Moonfish's straightjacket and hurled him through multiple trees, blowing a section of the forest apart with sheer power. Dark Shadow swiped again wildly, screeching in triumph as he watched the villain's body hit the ground far away. "Ahahahaha! More fun! I want more fun!"

Hitoshi blanched. Dark Shadow was rampaging and would probably attack anything he saw indiscriminately. But the creature was still capable of coherent speech and that meant he had a chance of calming it, even if it was risky.

He licked his lips and glanced at Toru, keeping his voice down. "Stay here."

Before she could say anything, he stood up and hurried onto the trail. Dark Shadow had turned around, looking away in search of more targets. "Hey! Dark Shadow!"

The huge monster spun towards Hitoshi, eyes gleaming at the nervous grin on the teenagers face. "Huh? You wanna fight me too?! Let's-?!"

Hitoshi's Quirk took effect instantly, but he could see that Dark Shadow was actively resisting it. He put all the effort he could into his words, trying to force his influence on the creature. "Go to sleep! Go to sleep! Go to sleep!"

Whether it was because Dark Shadow wasn't human or because he was just so goddamn strong, Hitoshi felt his head start to throb as he pushed his brainwashing onto the creature. He could feel a migraine coming on- holy shit, was this even working!?

But suddenly, the shadow beast began to shrink and Hitoshi saw Fumikage appear from inside of the darkness. The falcon-headed teen trembled as he regained control and forced Dark Shadow back into his body before he started panting for breath.

Hitoshi let out a long sigh of relief. "That was close."

Fumikage stumbled to his feet, still shaky. "Thank you…I'm sorry, I lost control. That villain slashed off one of Mezo's duplicate arms and it made me so angry I…"

"Is everything okay here?"

They glanced down the trail as Aizawa ran towards them, his eyes locking onto Fumikage in concern. "Mezo told me you snapped and started rampaging."

"I did," Fumikage nodded slowly. "Forgive me; I wasn't able to control Dark Shadow. It's only because Hitoshi was here that I was able to force him down…"

Aizawa flitted his gaze up to Hitoshi, who was rubbing the throbbing pain out of his head. Toru emerged from the trees with Kosei hanging off her shoulder, still unconscious. "Good job, Hitoshi. Now you three get Kosei to the lodge. There shouldn't be any more villains between here and there."

The Pro's vision suddenly flickered behind them and his eyes narrowed. "The gas cloud is dissipating."

Hitoshi looked over his shoulder and noticed that he was right- the massive cloud was starting to just fade away, turning into wisps as it scattered. "Maybe Ragdoll took out the villain making it…"

"Maybe," Aizawa didn't sound so sure, but he didn't have time to chat. "Get to the lodge. I'm going to find the others."

He ran off deeper into the forest while Hitoshi, Toru, and Fumikage carried the unconscious Kosei to safety.

* * *

Back with the Pussycats, Tora prepared himself for another clash with the two villains still up on their feet. "Katsuki, Shoto, you two get Izuku back to the lodge! Those injuries need treatment immediately!"

"We can keep these guys at bay," Pixie-Bob agreed, crouching to use her Quirk at the first hint of movement from the villains.

Magne smirked. "Is that so?"

 _"Everyone!"_ That was their magician ally, Compress, talking through a headpiece each of the villains wore. _"I'm sorry to ruin your fun, but Kurogiri has requested we all gather to retrieve the target! Does anyone know where he might be?"_

"Yeah," Magne responded, a large smile forming on her face. "He's right over here."

 _"Splendid! We'll be there momentarily!"_

The heroes and students froze as several black portals opened up out of thin air around Magne and Spinner. Stepping through them were the rest of the villain's team- Dabi, Himiko, Twice, and Compress.

"Hey, Dabi! Did you call Noumu back yet?" Twice asked as soon as they were all together.

"Oh, yeah," the young man replied. "Kurogiri is gonna warp him back to base. Well, it had some blood on it, so it probably managed to kill someone."

Mandalay tensed- the number of enemies had just tripled. "Dammit…"

"Do you still want us to run?" Shoto asked, not seeing how the Pussycats could defeat all six of these guys on their own. Even if Izuku was injured, between him, Katsuki, and Shoto, they had some serious firepower.

"I hate to say it, but I think our only chance of winning this is to have you kids with us," Pixie-Bob said, her eyes flitting from one villain to another. "With my Quirk and you three…we might be able to take them out at a distance."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, kitty, but you really shouldn't be worrying about us," Magne teased.

Another portal opened up behind them.

Out of it stepped a man in a black coat that hung off his shoulders, his exposed torso wrapped in bandages, and a pair of dark pants and black combat boots. The wind caressed a mess of curly green hair on his head, blowing it to the left side and making the buzz cut on the right side of his head more noticeable.

Sharp, dark green eyes locked onto the group of heroes and behind them, the students. At last, they settled on Izuku.

Mandalay blanched and immediately broadcast her telepathy. _"Eraser! Eraser! We need you here now! Right now!"_

"You took your time getting here," Spinner grumbled. "Aren't you supposed to be leading the team or something?"

"You might watch your mouth," Dabi warned the other villain. "He's well beyond any of the rest of us here."

Hisashi's lips curved into a small smirk. "Hello, Izuku."

Izuku could only stare back at the man with his eyes wide in terror. He'd never seen even a picture of his father before, but somehow…seeing him face-to-face was more frightening than anything he'd ever imagined.

Hisashi spared a moment to glance at Dabi. "Where's the rest of the team?"

"Well the gas disappeared, so I guess Mustard got taken out," he replied, then nodded his head towards the villains till half-buried in the ground. "Muscular got wasted too, it seems. I haven't seen Moonfish, but if he's not here, he probably got taken out, too."

"These U.A kids are better than I thought," Hisashi remarked as he studied the destruction resulting from Muscular's crash. "Well, they've been learning under All Might, so I suppose it shouldn't come as any surprise…?"

His attention focused on the trail of upturned dirt and initial crater made when Izuku pulverized Muscular. _The angle…an aerial attack?_

Hisashi lifted his gaze up and spotted Ochako and Kota floating overhead about fifty feet up or so. They'd been trying to remain inconspicuous until the villains were gone, but now they were trapped.

"This is why I'm the one in charge," he muttered, lifting his hand and aiming it at the floating children. The others villains followed his gaze, staring in surprise. "How is it none of you noticed them?"

Izuku felt horror shoot through him. _No!_

He charged 100% of his power into one of his toes and rocketed towards Hisashi, blurring into the line of villains in an instant. Hisashi's eyes shot back down as Izuku suddenly appeared in front of him, caught off-guard by his unexpected speed. He lifted his left arm to block the punch Izuku swung at him.

 _"Don't touch them!"_ Izuku screamed, 100% exploding from his arm.

Hisashi wasn't expecting the raw force with which Izuku punched him. The impact blew him off his feet and sent him flying into the forest, his body smashing through a number of trees until he disappeared into the darkness. The blast of wind that resulted from the overwhelming blow lifted the villains around Hisashi into the air and scattered them over the ground.

Izuku still didn't have any gravity seeing as Ochako hadn't yet released her Quirk, so the blowback made him fly to the Pussycats. Tora caught him and while the villains were stunned, Shoto launched himself up on a stream of ice and managed to catch Ochako and Kota as she released her Quirk. He slid them back to ground level on his ice and set the pair down.

Ochako looked ready to throw up after holding her Quirk for so long, but she managed to keep herself together and didn't let go of Kota.

Shoto glanced at Izuku as Tora helped the boy stand, but he was staggering without the zero-gravity effect of Ochako's Quirk to make him weightless. "Izuku, you really need to get back to the lodge! They're after you! And besides, both of your arms are broken!"

"Geez…" Spinner shook his head as he sat up. "That little brat's got a hell of a punch…"

"What'd you expect? He's Viper's kid, after all," Magne glanced back into the forest where Hisashi had been blown away. "I wonder if he survived that?"

* * *

Hisashi was in shock. His eyes were wide as he stared up at the night sky, lying on his back amidst the forest destroyed by his crash. The arm Izuku had punched him with throbbed with pain- he knew from experience he had a fracture or a break there, but that wasn't what bothered him.

He recognized that power. Even if he didn't recognize it visually, his body would have remembered that raw strength anywhere.

For a moment, he couldn't believe it.

Then both of his hands curled into fists and his teeth clenched, grinding against each other as fury hotter than the blood of a volcano roared through him.

"Taking me from them wasn't enough for you?" He breathed in rage, the veins in his neck bulging. Raw power bubbled up in his body as Hisashi let out a scream of unfettered hatred. _"AALLL MIIIIIIGHT!"_

* * *

Before anyone could move, emerald light exploded from the forest behind the villains.

A shockwave ripped through the air, making them stagger in an effort to keep their balance. The air was hot, suffocatingly so, as the light faded somewhat, but raging green flames were devouring the trees with hungry greed.

Even the villains stayed frozen as Hisashi stalked out of the blazing forest, his face set in a scowl and his eyes practically glowing. He was _pissed_ and they all knew it.

 _"Izuku,"_ Hisashi growled, his voice dangerous. _"Come. Here. Now."_

Izuku couldn't move. He had fallen onto the ground and was shaking with shock and no small amount of terror. Hisashi had just gotten right back up after taking a shot at 100% and he looked no worse for wear, save a bruise forming on his left arm.

 _That was All Might's power and he'd fucking taken it without batting an eye._

"Like hell you're taking him!" Katsuki snarled, bristling in a mixture of rage and utter fear. He would never admit to being afraid, but holy shit, this guy was _fucking_ _terrifying_.

Dabi glanced at Hisashi warily. When someone with his kind of power got angry, it was usually a wise idea to stay the hell out of their way. "What do you want us to do?"

"Stay back," Hisashi ordered, his eyes becoming dark. "Or I'll kill you."

Pixie-Bob felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and she immediately slammed her paws into the ground, unleashing a massive wave of soil at the villain. As the wave began to crash down, she lost sight of him. _Where'd he go?!_

 _"Here, kitty, kitty."_

Pixie-Bob's head was crushed into the ground, the initial blow alone making her lose consciousness in an instant. Hisashi stepped over her motionless body towards the remaining two Pussycats and the horrified students. None of them could tell if she was alive or not.

"You can give me my son willingly or I can take him by force," Hisashi thundered as he stalked towards them. "I don't care which."

He lifted his hand up and Izuku realized he was going to use his Quirk. "Look out!"

Izuku dove in front of them and intercepted a blast of emerald fire with his own, but to his shock, he couldn't transmute them. All he could do was stop them with the flames around his body.

Hisashi realized what was going on when his flames didn't just blast past Izuku and smite the rest of them. _I wondered about this, but our flames really aren't compatible? They're just pushing against each other like oil and water._

Well, whatever. He'd figure out the details of that phenomenon later.

Stopping the stream of fire, Hisashi darted forward and grabbed Izuku by the face, then slammed him into the ground. He didn't use the same force he had against Pixie-Bob, but the blow was still strong enough to knock the boy out cold.

"I'm sorry, Izuku," he murmured. "If possible, I really don't want you to get hurt anymore than you already are."

"Deku!" Ochako screamed.

"You asshole!" Katsuki charged him with Shoto and Tora trying to close in on three different sides. "Give him back!"

Hisashi lifted his hand and blasted Tora with an explosion of flame, sending the Pro hero flying with serious burns. Shoto made to attack the villain with his full-on glacial burst, but Hisashi blurred towards him and struck him in the gut before he could, cracking several ribs and knocking him away.

Katsuki reached for Hisashi's face, intent on getting as close as he could before unleashing the strongest explosion in his arsenal. Hisashi grabbed his wrist, flipped him over his shoulder, and slammed him into the ground by his feet. He planted a foot on Katsuki's arm, keeping his hand from twisting to aim an explosion at him.

"Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki, isn't it?" Hisashi queried as he glanced from one teen to another. "I saw the footage of your battles during the Sports Festival. You've both got some rather powerful Quirks. Killing you would be a waste."

 _"Fuck you!"_ Katsuki screamed, struggling to get free. _"You're not taking him!_ _I'll fucking kill you!"_

"I'm sorry, but I _can_ and I _am_ taking my son with me," Hisashi said, kneeling down and pressing his boot a little harder into Katsuki's arm to keep him still. With a quick strike, he hit the teenager at the base of his skull and knocked him out instantly. "I'll admit though that you're one of the more troublesome students. Take a nap."

Letting Katsuki's limp form go, he stood back up and glanced at Mandalay, Ochako, and Kota. Ochako had started walking towards Hisashi and Izuku slowly, her face completely terrified and her body shaking.

"Please…" she gasped out, lips trembling. "No!"

Hisashi ignored her and knelt to lift up Izuku, cradling the bleeding and unconscious teenager close to his chest. Without a backwards glance, he walked over to the rest of the villains and through one of Kurogiri's portals. The gateway closed.

Ochako fell to her knees and screamed. _"NOOOOOO!"_

* * *

 **A/N: I'm almost sorry. Almost. Not yet. You guys will know when I'm sorry.**

 ***Edit: I made a mistake with Magne- I misinterpreted her character and thought she was a transgender man who had undergone surgery, but in fact she hasn't undergone a procedure like that and instead sees herself as female despite having a male body. My mistake!***


	25. Welcome to the League

_Chapter Twenty Five: Welcome to the League_

 _"The Hero Community is still reeling in shock from the attack that took place on U.A's school training camp just three days ago,"_ said a reporter on screen. Images were brought up of planes flying over a burning forest in the middle of the night, dropping hundreds of gallons of water to put out the wild emerald flames. _"According to a report from Blood Hero: Vlad King who was on site, ambulances and firetrucks arrived on the scene fifteen minutes after the villains, who have been identified as part of the League of Villains, finished their raid and left the area. Of the forty-one students, fifteen lost consciousness and were in a critical state because of a gas attack. Twelve had injuries, ranging from minor to severe, and thirteen were uninjured. One of the students, Izuku Midoriya, was kidnapped."_

 _"In addition, of the six Pro Heroes who were present at the time, Pixie-Bob of the Pussycats suffered a critical head injury and is currently being kept in a medical coma. Another of the Pussycats, Ragdoll, left a heavy blood trail, but has yet to be found."_

 _"Of the villains, two were immediately apprehended and arrested, but a third villain found at the scene known by his villain alias Muscular, was dead on arrival. U.A is now being targeted by the public with severe criticisms for the attack and kidnapping-"_

Kurogiri turned the TV off and set the remote down on the bar. He looked towards Tomura, who had been uncharacteristically silent.

"Were these results to your satisfaction?" Kurogiri asked quietly.

Tomura tapped his fingers against the bar for a few moments. "We achieved our goal. U.A and the hero society are getting all the blame. Even if we hadn't succeeded in taking Izuku, the attack on its own fractured the public's trust in heroes."

"…but?" Kurogiri prompted.

"…It's not enough," Tomura said at last. "Taking Izuku, who has already been targeting by part of the public, is fine and all. But to really shatter the heroes, he needs to be one of us. I want him to be seen with the League of Villains as one of our own."

"You want a demonstration."

Tomura smiled in a ghastly way. "Whether he intended to or not…just the fact that he killed Muscular means he's got that same, murderous instinct his dad has. It would be so easy to make a display of that if he were seen with us…but Teacher won't let me see him yet."

"He experienced severe injuries during the capture," Kurogiri reminded him, reaching over to clean a glass out of habit. "Teacher and the Doctor saw fit to keep him with them until he's recovered somewhat. You mustn't rush things, Tomura. We've achieved something important."

"I'm aware," Tomura replied, more relaxed than Kurogiri was expected. "I want to see All Might's face when he sees Izuku standing with us…but Teacher and Viper are right about something. I need to be a little more patient. Before, I was playing this game like an RPG, but I should be playing like a Sim. I need to manage the pawns I have available at any given time and slowly crumble the foundation that those high up are standing on."

"If you look at it as a game of Chess where I'm the "player", then Izuku is a "King" right now. A piece I need to keep safe at all costs. But if he joins us willingly…he'll turn into the "Queen" and be the most powerful piece on the board."

A small chuckle escaped Tomura's lips. "Well, like father like son, after all…"

* * *

A heartbeat monitor beeped consistently in the room, which was otherwise quiet. The lights were dim, but still bright enough to see easily.

Unmoving from his spot where he leaned against he wall, Hisashi studied Izuku's face as the teenager slept on the medical bed. He was hooked up to an IV and had a oxygen mask over his face. Both of his arms and his torso were wrapped in bandages after the Doctor's surgery in an attempt to fix the extensive damage.

He'd flitted in and out of consciousness for a few hours after they'd brought him here, but after the Doctor gave him a sedative, he'd stayed in a fitful rest for the last three days or so.

The sound of footsteps making their way down the hall made Hisashi pause and he turned his head as the newcomer entered the room. All for One.

"Still unconscious, I see," the man remarked quietly.

Hisashi nodded as his eyes returned to Izuku. "Your sure he didn't suffer brain damage?"

"You didn't strike him hard enough to cause brain damage," All for One replied, moving over to the other side of the room to stand by Izuku's bedside. "Oddly enough, it's fortunate your muscles have shrunken from misuse these last sixteen years. You got carried away in your rage- had you struck him with the same power you had back then, he'd have died."

"I underestimated how much my body had weakened," Hisashi agreed. "I was aiming to kill Pixie-Bob and Tora, but they both survived despite my enhancement."

"Well, Pixie-Bob might still die, but you didn't do much more than scorch Tora. Your body is still not back at its peak efficiency, even with the enhancements."

All for One chuckled after a moment. "It's rather ironic, is it not? You, I, and All Might have all grown weaker over these past years."

Hisashi's eyes darkened. "I want him _dead."_

"In time," All for One assured him.

"That's not soon enough for me," the younger of the two villains scowled, half-glaring at Izuku. "I can't believe he passed One for All to him. There's no way to remove it?"

"Unfortunately, no. Not at this time. But we might yet make use of it once he learns how to control it."

"I don't want him to have that cursed power."

"Peace, Hisashi," All for One reached down to brush back some of the hair covering Izuku's eyes with disconcerting delicacy. "That power is only a "curse" as long as the wielder is against us. On our side…it will bring him no harm to possess it."

"Now, go and inform Tomura that he and the rest of the League will be meeting Izuku shortly. Tomorrow, after I've had time to run more tests."

Hisashi looked at him pointedly, but didn't argue. "In other words, you're about to do another one of your experiments."

"Not the kind you're thinking of- not yet," All for One murmured. His fingers brushed the soft skin of Izuku's face. "But he does have something I need."

* * *

 _"That was some Quirk back there-"_

 _"You can be a hero-"_

 _"I'm cursed! I'll hurt you!"_

 _"Izu! You're home!"_

 _"This is about your life, not ours-"_

 _"I love you too, sweetie-"_

 _"I'm not scared of you-"_

 _"Like hell you're taking him!"_

 _"It would've been bad luck if you tripped-"_

 _"Deku?"_

Izuku's eyes flew open with a sharp breath. He squeezed his eyes shut almost immediately as he felt his head pounding. Resisting the urge to vomit, he waited for what might have been minutes or hours until the pain faded away to tolerable levels before he made any attempt at moving.

He opened his eyes again more slowly this time, blinking tiredly around him. Nothing really looked familiar. The room was dark and his mind was sluggish. He felt weak and feverish; his skin was coated in a thin sheen of sweat.

He shivered in the cold air- he realized he wasn't wearing a shirt. Izuku slowly shifted his body so his legs were hanging off the bed, pushing the sheets aside. He was barefoot, but his lower half was covered by a pair of loose, dark pants.

 _What happened?_ He wondered, rubbing his face with his hand.

He heard footsteps and looked up towards the doorway to find, to his surprise, a girl about his age or maybe a little older in a high school uniform skipping into the room. She stopped dead upon seeing him and jumped up and down with a squeal. "You're awake! You're awake! Yaaaay!"

She bounced over to him, startling Izuku with her energy and sudden appearance. "I'm Himiko! It's nice to meet you, Izu! Do you mind if I call you Izu?"

"Wh-wha-?" Izuku managed, flustered and confused as she stood right in front of him.

She placed her hands on either side of his legs and leaned forward, causing Izuku to lean back on his elbows to put some distance between them. But his body was still weak and so he ended up just flopping on his back.

Himiko climbed onto the bed and practically straddled him so she could look at his face in more detail. Izuku reddened hotly. "Wh-who- wh-what are you-"

He lifted his hands to try and move her off of him- politely, if he could manage it- but Himiko grabbed his wrists and pinned them beside his head. It was easy for her, seeing as he was still so weak.

Her face leaned close to him and Izuku got a much closer view of her big, yellow eyes and slitted pupils than he would have been comfortable with. Her cheeks seemed to blossom as she studied his own, intense blush. "Mmm…you're cute when you blush~ All the blood _rushes_ to your face and your freckles stand out more."

"Wh-who are you?!" He managed, feeling hotter by the seconds. She was so _close_ to him and he could feel his confused, teenage body reacting involuntarily and _in the most uncomfortable way possible and she was straddling his lap oh fuck what the hell was happening here?!_

"I'm Himiko, remember?" She giggled, tilting her head in a cat-like way. "I just told you. I'm Himiko Toga. Oh, you never answered my questioned! Can I call you Izu? It's easier and cuter than Izuku, I think."

"I-s-sure, just- c-could you get off of m-me?" He asked weakly.

"Hm?" Himiko blinked at him and suddenly realized their position. "Oh! Izu, you naughty boy! Get your dirty thoughts out of the gutter!"

"N-n-no! Th-that's- I-I-I'm not d-doing it on purpose!" He yelped in embarrassment.

"Really? Seems like your body likes it, though," she grinned, flashing her sharp canine teeth. Himiko leaned closer to him until she was practically lying on top of him and her voice breathed softly in his ear. "I thought it was love at first sight for me when they brought you here, all covered in blood… _it was sooo hot_ …"

Izuku felt a cold chill rush up his spine. _"What?"_

"Himiko, that's enough."

Himiko sat bolt upright and spun her head towards the door. Izuku followed her gaze and his eyes grew wide with fright.

Hisashi was leaning against the doorway, one eyebrow raised as he studied the two teenagers. He had replaced his open jacket with a simple dark, long-sleeve shirt, but he still wore dark pants and a pair of boots.

Himiko slapped her hands to her cheeks. "Ahh! Izu, your dad caught us! I'm so embarrassed!"

"And yet you're still sitting on him like that," Hisashi pointed out. Himiko stuck her tongue out at him and he shook his head. "Bring some water, Himiko. He's probably dehydrated."

"Kay!" Himiko spun back around to Izuku and leaned forward before he could react. Her teeth nipped at his neck right at his pulse point, not hard enough to draw blood, but it made Izuku flush with heat and yelp.

She pulled back and licked her lips as she dismounted Izuku and skipped away. "I'll be back, Izu!"

Himiko left the room and Hisashi's eyes followed her for a moment before looking back to Izuku. The teenager gulped and stared at Hisashi as his mind caught up and reminded him why he was here in the first place.

Hisashi didn't move to approach him at first. "Before I say anything else, this should go without saying, but don't try to leave. You've been unconscious for three days. Your body sustained a lot of damage and it took several surgeries to prevent you from having any permanent disabilities in your arms."

"No thanks to you," Izuku retorted.

"No, you can thank All Might for that."

The teenager froze. Hisashi snorted. "I know what it's like to be hit with One for All- I don't think I'd ever be able to forget it. You can deny it all you want, but I already know All Might passed his power onto you, Izuku."

"S-so?" Izuku glared at him. "It's not his fault I can't control it yet, I just-"

"It's completely his fault because he had no right to give you that Quirk," Hisashi snapped. "Don't try and use your inexperience as a way to avoid placing the blame on him."

"It's not-"

"Enough," he cut the teenager off. "Arguing about this right now is meaningless. You're stressed, tired, dehydrated, and weak. Bottom line is, you're not leaving here and that's final."

Izuku scowled. "So you're…what, keeping me prisoner?"

"No, I'm grounding you until you prove yourself trustworthy."

The scowl deepened. "You don't get to just act like my dad after all this time! You don't get to attack our training camp and hurt my friends, then kidnap me and act like everything is okay! I don't give a damn what you say! The only reason I'm in the mess is because of _you!"_

"Hey~!"

Himiko bounced back into the room with a pout on her face and a water bottle in one hand. She poked Hisashi's arm with the cold bottle. "Don't be mean to Izu!"

Hisashi ignored her as she skipped to Izuku and offered him the water bottle, which he accepted reluctantly. His eyes flitted to Himiko and he realized that if she was with Hisashi, it meant she was probably a villain as well.

It clicked in his mind a moment later; yeah, she had been one of the villains who appeared just before Hisashi showed up at the camp. She'd been wearing a mask and some kind of gear back then, but she'd definitely been there.

He took a drink after pausing to sniff the water suspiciously. Hisashi rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Why would we poison you after going to all that effort to get you here in the first place?"

"I don't know," Izuku retorted, trying to ignore Himiko as she sat down next to him. "I'm still trying to figure out what you want with me. You'd have to be insane to think I'd join you guys."

"Your place is with us, now."

"My place is with my _mother_. With my _sister."_

Hisashi froze at that. "Your _what?"_

Izuku stilled and he realized he'd let that slip. "I…I mean Eri…She's not really my sister, but…She might as well be after everything that's happened."

"…but that doesn't matter," he went on, casting a glare at Hisashi. "You're not going to keep me here forever. Eventually, All Might and the other heroes are gonna find you or I'll get away. How long do you think you can hold me here, Hisashi?"

Hisashi's eyes narrowed. "I guess we'll find out."

"Nooo~ I want you to stay, Izu!" Himiko whined and hugged his arm close to her chest, making him blush and try to pull away from her.

"Kn-knock it off!"

The older man turned away and grunted. "Himiko, get a shirt for him out of one of those drawers and introduce him to the others. I need to talk to Tomura's teacher."

Izuku locked onto that and glared after him, trying to ignore the way Himiko was still hugging his arm. "Is that All for One?"

Hisashi paused and glanced over his shoulder. "Why?"

"What does he want with me? Is he trying to take One for All?"

"Didn't All Might tell you? One for All can't be forcibly stolen. I'm not sure exactly what he wants from you, but whatever the case may be, he's already taken something from you."

Izuku blanched. _"What?!_ _What did he take?!"_

"It doesn't matter right now. It's for some experiment of his. He didn't touch your Quirks, if that's what you're worried about."

Hisashi left then and Himiko seemed to realize that Izuku wasn't going to be quite as fun for her after a few moments. Pouting, she walked over to a cabinet by the bed and opened it, turning her back on Izuku.

The next thing she knew, there was a hand wrapping around her throat from behind and another one grabbing her by the waist to pull her tightly against Izuku's torso. Himiko gasped, but Izuku tightened the grip on her throat.

"Don't scream," he warned her quietly. "Don't struggle. Not a sound out of you or I'll use my Quirk to burn you up. Place your hands against that cabinet and don't move them from there."

Himiko's lips curved into a smile and she did as he asked. Izuku waited a few seconds, carefully trying to decide if she might pull something. When he was satisfied that she would listen, he spoke again. "How many of you are there?"

"Hmm…" She hummed thoughtfully as though she weren't being held hostage. "Counting me, nine. Well, your dad comes and goes, but since he's here, I'll count him too~"

"Where is this place?"

"I dunno, I never bothered finding out what the address was. I just followed Tomura's broker friend here because he said they were with Mr. Stain. It's in the city, I guess?"

Izuku couldn't tell if she was lying or not. "What did All for One take from me?"

"All for what?"

"The Teacher. Tomura's Teacher."

"Ohhh, the TV guy! I don't know, actually. Your dad took you somewhere after we got back from the training camp and we didn't see you for a few days. He brought you back like, four hours ago, but you were asleep then. I guess that's where Tomura's Teacher is, wherever that might be."

Dammit, he wasn't learning anything from her!

"What happened to the training camp? How many people were hurt?"

"I dunno the numbers, exactly," Himiko hummed, tilting her head to think about it. "A lot? Hmmm…no one on the hero side died, I think. I didn't actually do much, either. I became friends with Tsu-Tsu and Kyoka, though! They were cute!"

"But no one was killed?"

"I mean, you killed Mr. Muscles, but that's it."

Izuku froze. "What?"

Himiko seemed surprised. "What, you didn't know? You totally killed him- like WHAM! I mean, all the blood ended up in the dirt, so it was kind of lame, but it's the effort that counts!"

Izuku felt horror rush through him. He…he'd _killed_ someone? Even if it was a villain, he…

In his shock, his grip loosened.

Himiko spun around and tackled him to the floor in an instant, faster than Izuku could react. She sat on his stomach and pinned his hands above his head, her catlike eyes gleaming playfully.

"That was naughty of you Izu, trying to take me hostage like that," she teased. "If you just wanna gimme a hug because you like me, I don't mind…but here's a little tip, okay? Don't ever let your guard down around me~"

Izuku's face flushed again, this time from almost having the wind knocked out of him. Himiko didn't look like it, but she was surprisingly strong for an average high school girl.

Her eyes studied the crimson blossoming just under his skin and her tongue flickered out to wet her lips. _"You're so cute like this. You're gonna drive me crazy, Izu."_

She leaned down and nipped him again, just as she had before on his pulse point. Again, she didn't draw blood, but seemed to enjoy the way his blood rushed under his skin. She pulled back a bit and smirked at the little bruise forming there.

Himiko let him up and bounced to her feet, turning back to the cabinet and pulling out a simple white shirt which she then tossed to him on her way out the door. "Hurry up, Izu! Everyone wants to meet you!"

Izuku caught the shirt and sat up with a groan. His head was pounding again, but he didn't have time to just sit here. He had to find a way to get away from the League of Villains. He took a few deep breaths as he put the shirt on and tried to calm down. They wanted him alive- that was the whole reason they'd taken him, after all.

If they really wanted his cooperation, they weren't going to kill or torture him. They would have to play nice in order to try and sway him over to their side. Izuku could use that to his advantage. Until All Might and the other heroes found him or he managed to escape…

He was on his own.

* * *

The bar was quiet, but not as relaxed as it had been before Himiko bounced in with Izuku behind her. As soon as he walked in, he took a seat in the far corner of the bar and didn't say a word to any of the villains.

It came as a surprise to some of them- Hisashi had come out of the room and informed them that Izuku was agitated not five minutes prior to them arriving, before Kurogiri warped him away to see Tomura's Teacher. And since they knew about Himiko's rather… _energetic_ personality, they'd expected him to be a little rattled at least upon seeing them all.

The way he was sitting in his seat almost lazily, taking his time studying everything in the room was making some of them uneasy, but they hid it well. A few of the villains also took the chance to study him in turn, seeing as he didn't seem to be in the mood for talking. He wasn't giving much away, though.

Himiko didn't seem to mind; she had hopped over to the other side of the bar and was leaning close to Izuku, chattering aimlessly to him. Occasionally, he responded, but it was a pretty one-sided conversation.

After about thirty minutes of Izuku more or less ignoring them, Spinner let his impatience get the better of him.

"Hey," the reptilian man said as he approached Izuku from the front, getting the teenager's attention. "The name's Spinner. You're the kid Stain deemed worthy of the name "hero" after all, aren't you? I'd like it if you could tell me about him. How about we have a talk?"

Izuku watched as Spinner stopped about two meters away from him. He remained silent for a few seconds.

His left hand rose up from the bar.

That little movement was enough to get the attention of the rest of the bar, but what set the villains on edge was when he curled his middle finger against his thumb, like he was about to flick it. Plasma charged up around his finger.

Dabi's eyes widened. _Is he actually serious?!_

All of the villains tensed immediately. Himiko's smile twisted with a hint of something crazy as one of her hands reached for the knife inside her sleeve. Dabi's fingers twitched with blue fire and Kurogiri's gaseous body shifted in case he had to intercept an attack. Magne's grip tightened on her metal rod and Spinner hesitated before reaching for one of his blades. Twice's eyes just widened and Tomura watched Izuku warily, while Compress merely cocked his head.

Izuku's gaze flitted about the bar for a few seconds, his finger still aimed at Spinner. But then the charge of plasma disappeared and he set his elbow against the bar again, propping his chin on his palm to look at Himiko. "Is there anything to eat here?"

Himiko's smile became a little less psychotic and more genuine. "Yep! Whaddya want?"

"What do you have?"

Spinner grinned a little nervously as he let go of his weapon. "Smart move, kid. Seems you know your position well."

Izuku ignored him, seemingly listening to what Himiko was offering for food.

 _Smart move?_ Magne stared at Izuku warily. _Spinner, you idiot. He was never going to fire that shot. As soon as he lifted his hand, he was looking around to see how we would react. He's not stupid enough to think he can take us all on- he was probing for weaknesses!_

 _You're the one who doesn't understand his position. He knows that we aren't going to harm him unless we have to. As long as he doesn't do anything rash, he's got the freedom to sit there and study us all he wants. He's been looking around the bar like that ever since he got here, looking for exits or weak points._

Magne felt a bead of sweat form on the side of her head. _This fucking kid…He's too smart to do something reckless when he doesn't know all of our Quirks. I'll bet he was trying to see if we'd use them when he pulled that stunt. Even worse, he's not just intelligent, he's powerful. He killed that Muscular guy in a battle of brute strength. If he gets a shot off with that power of his, it'll probably destroy the bar and alert everyone in the area. Our cover will be blown in an instant._

Izuku took a sip of water from his water bottle as Himiko asked Kurogiri for more details on what they had to eat. His eyes lifted to study the wall behind the bar, but there was nothing casual about how intently he was looking. Magne's brow wrinkled stressfully as she glanced at Dabi, who nodded slightly. He understood what Izuku was doing as well.

 _If our information is correct, he knows about the Quirks of Tomura, Kurogiri, Dabi, Viper, and maybe Twice. He didn't get to see my, Spinner, or Compress's Quirks, but there's no way of knowing if Himiko told him about hers or not. She's getting too chatty with him. If nothing else, he's probably at least realized that Himiko and Spinner are close-range types. That means the only ones he has no information about at all are Compress and myself._

 _This is dangerous…It's like trying to keep a bomb from going off. He probably isn't going to rush anything, either. He's going to take his time…and all the while it's going to make us edgy. Why the hell did they bring him back here!? They should've kept him with Tomura's Teacher, wherever he is! At least restrain him somehow!_

But Magne knew there wouldn't be any restraining him. Izuku hadn't taken that shot- he hadn't done anything wrong, per se. Handcuffing him or locking him up would only antagonize him further and make it more difficult to turn him into a willing recruit.

He was figuring out their game with their every reaction and it was eerie how he just…started playing it. Izuku let his eyes move around the bar again and he locked on Magne, meeting her gaze steadily. The green orbs were sharp as he inspected her like a bird of prey, in a way that made her suppress a shiver before he moved on. He was more like his father than any of them had anticipated.

 _Was killing Muscular just a fluke, or is he actually that kind of dangerous person?_

* * *

"Hey~" Himiko poked Izuku's shoulder with her finger. "Izu, are you still listening to me?"

"Yeah, why?" He responded without looking at her. It had gotten late and a few of the other villains had turned in. Where they'd gone…he wasn't exactly sure since he hadn't left the bar more than once to use the bathroom, but he figured they'd be around somewhere. Kurogiri was still behind the bar itself, polishing a glass. Tomura was making a pyramid out of cards at the chair furthest away from him- Izuku was tempted to blow at them in an attempt to make them fall over.

"I've been talking forever but you hardly say anything back!" Himiko pouted. "Have you just been ignoring me?"

"I haven't been ignoring you," he replied as he studied the door on the opposite side of the room. He wondered if he could bust that thing down with 5% of his power…

"Really? Then answer these questions!" Himiko demanded as her cheek puffed up. "How old am I?"

"Sixteen."

She blinked. "You remember?"

"I told you I was listening, didn't I?"

"…what's my favorite type of guy?"

"Ones that are covered in blood."

"Wow, right again! What's my favorite kind of story?"

"Love stories."

Himiko stared at him in surprise. "I totally thought you were tuning me out!"

Izuku gave her a sideways look. "Why would I tune you out?"

The teenage girl just looked back, her eyes somewhat brighter than before as her head tilted to the side a little.

"If you guys are going to keep talking, can you take it elsewhere?" Tomura grunted. "I'm getting tired."

Himiko pouted at him and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine. C'mon, Izu."

She hopped over the bar (much to Kurogiri's chagrin) and made to go back towards the room Izuku had been in when he arrived. Himiko took Izuku's wrist and he didn't fight it- instead letting her pull him away.

Kurogiri watched them go warily. "…He's too agreeable."

"I know," Tomura agreed as he carefully balanced another card on his pyramid. "I was planning on trying to convince him to join us, but I didn't think he'd pull that stunt earlier. It caught me by surprise."

"He's going to be a problem without Hisashi or your Teacher to watch him."

"…I…think we should ask Teacher about what to do," Tomura said, surprising Kurogiri. "I don't like how calm he is about this. He's not behaving at all how I thought he would. I'm sure he's planning something. I need more information so I know how to manage him. Would you mind asking him to come here?"

Kurogiri nodded. This was the kind of development Teacher had been hoping for in Tomura- the ability to admit he didn't know the answer to something and ask for help.

He reached for the phone.

* * *

Himiko tugged Izuku back to what he guessed was "his" room now and turned to smile at him. "Mind if I stay and talk more?"

"I don't mind," Izuku replied. Admittedly listening to Himiko talk was…trying. Sometimes it was normal high school girl chatter (which he knew nothing about and didn't know how to respond to most of the time) and sometimes it was about something gruesome like murder (which he didn't _want_ to know anything about and didn't respond at all).

But he let her talk. She had more or less attached herself to him ever since he woke up and throughout the day…he'd noticed she didn't bother talking to anyone else except maybe that Twice guy a couple of times, though she almost immediately returned to talk to Izuku. Whether she was trying to get a rise out of him or actually was interested in him, he didn't know, but…for some reason, he didn't try to make her stop talking.

He didn't understand why he hadn't stopped her yet. Whenever she talked, rather gleefully, about murdering someone, it sent horrific shivers up his spine. She'd mentioned going on a date with some guy that ended with her bleeding him dry. It was _freaky_ as all hell and he wanted her to shut the fuck up every time she started another story like that, of which there had been several.

It made him uncomfortable and though he knew he couldn't force her to stop, (as that might have provoked the villains, and he didn't have enough intel to fight them yet) he hadn't even said something like politely trying to change the subject. He'd let her ramble about her fixation on bleeding guys until she was satisfied.

Izuku shook the thought from his head and made to remove his shirt. As soon as it was over his head, a hand slapped over his throat from behind and another hugged his torso. Himiko's body pressed against his back and he felt the hairs on his neck stand on end as she breathed into his ear.

"I told you never to let your guard down around me, Izu~"

"And if I flare up?" He retorted, unwilling to let her get away with scaring him. "Even if you try and flick out that knife in your jacket, you could still burn to death."

"Oh, you saw my knife? Nice eye," she giggled, letting her hand leave his throat. It trailed down his chest as he tossed his shirt aside and lowered his arms- Izuku didn't like the way she was touching him, but his mind was focusing on analysis right now. Where were her limits? What habits did she have? What could he use against her if he had to fight her?

He turned his head to glare at her and she stared back, still smiling lazily.

Himiko was also testing his limits and both of their bodies were tense. The teenage girl might have been crazy at times, but she wasn't stupid. She could tell Izuku was looking for an escape route in the bar- that was something she did whenever she was going to murder someone. If she didn't have a getaway plan, then it was too risky to pull off.

He'd been trying to find their weak points, so she went looking for his. This was the easiest way to unsettle a male- catch them off guard and take them out of control. If Izuku was going to give up a weakness to her, this was the quickest way to go about it.

Her fingers trailed from his collarbone down past his sternum. They hovered above Izuku's stomach for a few seconds before slowly dragging down along his abs. The muscles clenched under her touch.

She passed his naval and reached the edge of his pants. Most guys by now at least _said_ something, though Himiko had only used this particular method once or twice. Now even she was starting to feel a bit out of her depth.

Her thumb teased the edge of the clothing, sliding under it just a tad between his pants and underwear. Himiko shifted her thumb again to touch the skin at his hips and her eyes flit down-

Izuku had her wrists in his hands in an instant and he yanked her arms away from him before spinning around, grabbing her shoulder, and then shoving her face-first into the bed. He kept her arm pinned behind her back and twisted it until she winced.

"Oww, Izu!"

He tried to let out a long breath to calm himself as quietly as he could despite his racing heart and blazing cheeks. She'd really, _really_ pushed his comfort zone there, but he'd won that little trade- he'd gotten a weakness out of her. As crazy as she was, Himiko apparently still experienced the same uncertainty with… _mature_ matters like other teenagers their age.

He didn't think that was a weakness he'd actually be able to exploit, but at least he knew a bit more about her personality now.

"Let me gooo!" She whined.

"Where's the knife?"

"In my undies."

"You're lying," he snapped, twisting her arm further. "Where is it?"

"Owowow…ugh, fine! It's in my sleeve. The arm you're twisting, by the wrist."

Izuku carefully pulled her sleeve back and extracted the switchblade, which he pocketed. He glared at her for another moment. "Any others?"

"Who do I look like, Spinner?" She complained.

There was no point in interrogating her further, so he let her go and stepped back as she straightened and turned to pout at him. Izuku took the knife out of his pocket and held it up to show her. "You get this back when you leave my room."

 _No point in trying to steal it or keep it from her,_ he thought to himself in annoyance. If he stole a knife, she'd tell the others and he'd have to give it up. He also seriously doubted it was the only knife in the bar- she probably had another one stashed somewhere. This was a temporary disarmament to make her think he felt more secure without the weapon on her.

"That was mean, Izu," she winced as she stretched her arm to the side.

"Don't try and sneak up on me, then."

"I was just giving you a hug," she muttered.

 _Bullshit,_ he thought, but mentally sighed. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

"If you want to give me a hug, just ask," he told her, his cheeks reddening with legitimate embarrassment. Did he want to hug her? No. Did he want her trust? Yes.

It'd make it easier for him to escape if she was relaxed around him.

Himiko smiled playfully. "Aww, that's sweet of you!"

Izuku just grunted and walked over to the bed to sit on the mattress, careful to keep the knife on the side opposite Himiko. She plopped herself down next to him and leaned against his shoulder, her voice becoming teasing again.

"Here we are again, _all alone_ in your room…your dad isn't here to catch us, you know~" She whispered into his ear, giggling slightly.

Izuku was calling her bluff. He knew where her limits stood now and that at this point, she was just trying to get a rise out of him.

"I thought I wasn't your type," he goaded her, watching the girl out of the corner of his eye. "Didn't you say you liked guys who were covered in blood?"

"Yeah, you were waaaay hotter when your arms were all busted up," she admitted cheerily. "You're still cute, though. You'd be cuter if you were bleeding a bit. Maybe I should bite you again!"

He was about to deny her, but did a mental pause before he opened his mouth.

…what if he _let_ her?

If he gave her that kind of control, that kind of trust…how would she respond? He'd already figured out from her reaction earlier that she was, in some ways, still a teenager mentally. Could he use that as a way to gain her trust? Or…even convince her to help him escape?

Just today, he'd figured out that no matter how he went about it, escaping the League of Villains right now was impossible. He couldn't make some haphazard attempt at escape or they'd stop him with ridiculous ease. He also had no idea where he was, except that it was in a city of some kind.

There was no way of knowing if and when the heroes would find this location. Wherever it was, it was well hidden, and Kurogiri's warping meant he could send the villains anywhere at a moment's notice. At the end of the day, it was just Izuku against nine, powerful villains- and possibly even All for One.

He had no outside ears or eyes. No information except what he was told.

If he gained Himiko's trust- and with absolute certainty, at that- could she be his way out? On his own, the task was going to be insanely difficult, but if he had her on his side…

Izuku knew, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, that he didn't have the luxury of being picky here. This was a matter of survival. He had to take any and every chance he was given- even if that meant getting closer to the villains than he would have ever liked to.

"Okay, why don't you?"

Himiko laughed. "Nice joke, Izu."

"No, really."

She paused and twisted her head to blink at him owlishly. "You…want me to make you bleed?"

"I mean, not a lot," he scratched the back of his head nervously. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Maybe being around the villains was making him insane, too. "Just…maybe if you bit me again? If you want, I mean."

Himiko stared at him. "You're serious."

"It's only if you want to," he muttered, embarrassed. Even if it was for a really fucked up reason, he was still telling a girl it was okay to…to _bite_ him. He couldn't fake how much it freaked him out.

"…why? No one's ever…willingly let me do that."

"W-well, you said you like blood, but…Maybe it'd be easier if you just make me bleed a little instead of killing people?"

"…you're kind of weird."

Izuku wanted to face-palm. Great, even the psychotic, murder-happy girl thought he was weird. Talk about a new low.

He froze as Himiko suddenly moved and straddled his lap, just as she had at the start of the day. She stared down at him, the smile on her face gone and her eyes uncharacteristically serious. "You're not trying to make fun of me?"

"I'm trying to help you," he responded quietly.

She was still a killer. There was no escaping that fact. But if he could convince her to help him escape, maybe he could…help her somehow. Have her sent somewhere to help whatever mental problems she had instead of a jail cell. That was what his hero side told him, anyway.

Himiko considered it for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Then…I'll do it. Just a little, right?"

Izuku swallowed, his adams apple bobbing up and down. His throat felt dry and he turned his head to the side a little, exposing his throat to her. "Just a little…"

She licked her lips and leaned down near his pulse point. Izuku cringed, fighting off tears as he felt her sharp canines pierce his skin and warm blood rolled down his neck. His arms wrapped around her and squeezed in an attempt to steady himself- to keep himself from reacting badly. One of Himiko's hands gripped his hair as she lapped at his blood with her tongue and shifted to bite him again.

* * *

 _Manipulation._

Outside the room, All for One stood against the wall and smiled to himself darkly. He'd heard Izuku's conversation with Himiko- knew what the teenage boy was going for. He approved. He approved completely.

 _When one is placed in a situation where survival is on the line, one must adapt accordingly,_ he thought to himself. _Now that you're with the League of Villains, Izuku, you've surely realized…if help does not come, you must escape on your own. Your options are limited. You have no one to rely on but yourself. In a position where you are so alone, you must have the iron will to manipulate others to your benefit._

 _The mind of someone as young as you is so easily subject to change. Even if you escape, will you be the same person you were before? The longer this goes on, the more your perception will adapt to suit that of a villain. It will become easier for you to throw away things like morality when you have no other choice. You've already expressed your capability in doing so by killing Muscular, whether it was on purpose or by accident. That seed has been planted, and now this decision you've made to manipulate Himiko will let it sprout._

 _Without realizing it, Izuku, you've already taken your first steps to become a villain._

* * *

 **A/N: Finally, some REAL variation from canon. I know this chapter might make some people uneasy, but I told you guys things were going to get worse. They still haven't reached that true low point, either. Brace yourselves for the future.**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	26. All Flare- Origin

_Chapter Twenty Six: All Flare- Origin_

The hospital room was quiet.

Katsuki stared out the window from his seat, eyes glassy and his face gaunt. He hadn't done much sleeping since he'd woken up in this place. He and the rest of the students at the training camp had been taken here immediately for treatment following the villain attack three days ago. Katsuki's injuries were practically nonexistent, but if anything, that only frustrated him more.

He'd been so powerless.

So helpless to do anything.

Absolutely fucking useless.

How the hell was he supposed to call himself a hero if he couldn't even save his partner in crime?

Heat Viper had just walked into their training camp, taken one of the meanest punches Izuku had ever thrown, ever, gone "ouch", gotten back up, and proceeded to fucking curb-stomp every single one of them. Katsuki hadn't even gotten to fire a blast off at him- he'd been pinned down and knocked out with pathetic ease.

Useless.

Most of his classmates had bled trying to survive against the villains. He came out of it with a bruise on the back of his neck.

He was one of the strongest members of the class and he'd done absolutely nothing.

His eyes shifted from the window to where several of his classmates were standing around Momo's hospital bed- the girl had suffered a head injury and been out cold for days, but she'd woken up earlier today. Katsuki would've been lying if he said he wasn't a little relieved she'd come out of it alive.

Pixie-Bob was still in a medical coma. Tora had come out of the fight with burns, but Recovery Girl had already healed them. Ragdoll was missing.

His parents had been worried about him of course, but Katsuki hadn't wanted their concern. What right did he have to be fawned over for doing nothing and coming out of the attack completely fine? Especially after Inko showed up at the hospital with Eri.

He couldn't look at her. He couldn't look at either of them. Izuku was like his brother, his responsibility, and he'd let Hisashi just walk away with him.

He'd cried. Not just a little bit, either. Katsuki was ashamed to admit he'd hugged Inko and started fucking _sobbing_ with her.

He hadn't told any of his classmates. He wasn't going to tell them.

"Everyone, could you give me a moment alone?"

His eyes regained a little clarity when Momo spoke quietly to their classmates. Eijirou glanced at him and jerked his head towards the door, but the Momo stopped him before he could get up. "Actually, I'd like Katsuki to stay for a minute."

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, but inclined his head at Eijirou and the others. "I'll be out in a moment." His voice was subdued and lacked all of its normal aggression.

"Okay," Eijirou lifted a hand to squeeze his shoulder and then left with the other seven or eight members of their class. The rest were off with their families or still unconscious and being treated for exposure to the gas attack.

Once the door closed, Katsuki turned to look at Momo as he stood up out of his chair. "What is it?"

Momo didn't say anything at first and just lifted a hand, reaching out to him. He approached her, his fiery personality reduced to ashes. There was a slump in his shoulders, not the lazy, confident kind he usually had, but a slump that spoke of exhaustion and sleepless nights. Utter defeat.

Once he was close enough, Momo's hand rose to rest on the side of his face. Katsuki merely blinked at the contact, his eyes dim.

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was. I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough. If…if I'd been just an instant faster, I could've…"

"Katsuki."

She shook her head slowly and after a moment, he lowered his head.

"I couldn't do anything."

Her hand lifted his chin somewhat and he looked at her face again. The smile on her face was so fucking _understanding_ that for a moment, he wanted his rage back- to yell and say that he didn't need her help or her sympathies. That he wasn't weak.

Except he _was_ weak.

"Come here."

He sat down on the edge of her bed without another word and fell into her arms, boneless. His eyes started stinging.

"I told you," she murmured. "If ever you have a problem you can't tell the others about, you can confide in me."

Katsuki cried again.

* * *

Walking into the bar the next morning was a little more awkward for Izuku than it had been the first time. This was mostly due to the numerous bite marks covering the left side of his throat. Himiko hadn't made him bleed a terrible amount, but it sure didn't look like she'd been gentle about it- his skin looked like it had been mauled by a vampire.

He heard Magne snort with laughter upon seeing him and couldn't stop the crimson that spread over his face. If this was what "the morning after" felt like, he certainly wasn't in any rush to grow up soon.

Doing his best to ignore the various snickers and mocking grins from most of the villains, Izuku took the same seat he'd had yesterday and mumbled to Kurogiri about breakfast. Kurogiri at least didn't bother trying to make fun of him- he seemed a bit too refined for that.

After eating a surprisingly decent breakfast- Izuku hadn't expected Kurogiri to know how to cook, but he wasn't complaining- Himiko skipped in from her room and plopped into the seat next to him. "Morning, Izu!"

"Morning," he replied, reading over a newspaper that had been lying on the bar. It was a couple of days old, but he'd been unconscious then, so he could still learn something from it. Maybe.

Glancing around the room, it seemed like most of the villains were up and about with the exception of Twice. A late riser, or was he off doing something for the League? Izuku made a mental note of his absence and continued to read the paper, but before he could get through the first page, the phone rang. Kurogiri answered and after a short conversation, he hung up and looked at Izuku.

"Your father is coming to get you. He'll be taking you to Tomura's Teacher."

"What for?"

"Reconditioning," Tomura chuckled further down the bar.

Izuku flashed a glare in his direction, but his vision was cut off as Kurogiri made a warp gate between them. Out from the gate came Hisashi, who stood there and looked at Izuku steadily. "Come on."

Izuku stood up, knowing better than to refuse. As he turned towards the gate, Hisashi's eyes narrowed and his hand suddenly rose to grab Izuku's chin and push his face to the right, exposing the bite marks on the left side of his neck. The teenager smacked his hand away and scowled at him. "Don't touch me."

Hisashi ignored him and let his gaze drift over to Himiko, who was watching the event in her seat beside them. She froze as Hisashi lifted a hand towards her face, his eyes dark.

Immediately, Izuku's hand lunged up and grabbed Hisashi by the throat, plasma sparking at his fingertips.

The aggression in the bar spiked in an instant. All of the villains were up at arms except for Himiko, who dared not move with Hisashi aiming at her from just a couple of feet away. Her face was pale and the smile was gone- it was the first time she'd looked legitimately afraid.

"Everyone, calm down!" Kurogiri shouted, his gaseous body roiling.

Nobody made another move, but they didn't relax, either. Spinner had blades in both hands and Magne's metallic rod was ready at a moment's notice. Dabi and Compress both looked tense and Tomura didn't move, but his eyes narrowed.

Hisashi's head turned just enough so he could look at Izuku, his eyes dangerous. "What are you doing?"

 _"No,"_ Izuku growled, tightening his grip on Hisashi's throat. "You're not killing her."

"Do you even see what she did to you?"

"I let her do it."

Hisashi's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "You _let_ her?"

"Yeah," Izuku's cheeks reddened, but it only made him look angrier with his face twisted in a scowl. "Got a problem with that?"

"Yes, I actually do. Now take your hand off of me."

"If you kill her," he threatened, squeezing a little tighter. "I'm going to kill you."

"You'll break your hand doing that."

"It'd be worth it."

"You don't have the balls."

"I killed Muscular, didn't I?"

"You would kill your own father?"

 _"You are not my father!"_

The venom in his words, which he practically spit out, gave Hisashi pause and he studied Izuku's face for a moment. He wasn't seeing any hesitation. Izuku hated him- he could see it in his eyes. If Hisashi gave him a reason to do it…he was pretty sure Izuku would kill him.

Kurogiri broke the tense silence. "Hisashi, Himiko is still a valuable ally to us. It would be unwise to kill her."

"Yeah," surprisingly, Spinner put in his own two cents. "And killing without purpose is against the teachings of Stain."

Hisashi looked at Izuku for a few more moments before lowering his hand from Himiko's face. Wisely, she slowly got up from her seat and shifted so she was standing behind Izuku.

Izuku didn't let go of Hisashi's throat. That wasn't unnoticed by the villains, who remained ready to jump into action.

"Izuku, you've made your point," Kurogiri assured him. "There's no need to push this any further."

The teenager's eyes narrowed as he thought about that. He could feel Hisashi's pulse beneath his thumb and the vertebrae of his neck under his index finger. If he just squeezed at 100%, Hisashi would probably die instantly.

That would be the end of the legendary criminal Heat Viper. It might actually be worth the trouble he'd get into.

 _"Izuku,"_ Kurogiri's voice took on an edge.

"Whoa, whoa, kid don't go doing anything stupid," Dabi called to him. "You know you can't win this fight."

…Dabi was right. As much as Izuku hated to admit it, he was right. He wasn't prepared to fight his way out of here and killing one of the villains would instantly put him in a position where he'd have to fight for his life. He didn't know if they valued his life more than Hisashi's, but he'd put money that Viper was worth more to them at the moment. He also didn't think Himiko was completely on his side. He'd only just started trying to sway her…

It wasn't worth the risk.

But he didn't just let Hisashi go. He glared at the man and with all the force he could manage, delivered one last threat. "If you kill her I'm going to murder you. And if you try to act like my dad again, I'll Detroit Smash you in the balls."

"That's cold, man," Tomura chuckled.

Izuku let Hisashi go and met his glare, hoping he looked more intimidating than he felt. The older man cast one more glance at Himiko before shaking his head and turning back to the warp gate. "Fine. Now come with me."

The tension in the bar died down some and a few of the villains let out a collective breath as Hisashi and Izuku disappeared through the warp gate.

That had been a little too close.

* * *

As soon as the warp gate close and they emerged in a dark hallway by a door, Hisashi spun around and grabbed Izuku by the throat, lifting and pinning him against the wall. The teenager gasped as the breath was knocked out of him, but he grabbed Hisashi's wrist and glared at him.

Hisashi shook his head, glaring at him menacingly. _"Never_ pull something like that again."

"Then don't threaten Himiko," Izuku managed to snarl.

"Why did you let her do this to you?"

"It's none of your business. Let me go."

"You _will_ tell me."

Izuku's body flared up and plasma arced off his limbs. _"Let. Me. Go!"_

Hisashi's eyes narrowed as he ignored the sparking bolts of plasma, but he wasn't giving in that easily. Both of them refused to surrender and it might've actually come to a fight had the door not opened then.

All for One, his head covered by a black, skull-like mask with angular pipes at the top and a collar-like life support system around his neck, glanced from father to son and back again.

"Enough."

Hisashi let Izuku go and the boy stumbled to retain his footing as he landed, reaching up to massage his throat. He glared at Hisashi, but the man ignored him in favor of All for One. Izuku followed his gaze and once he saw the tall villain, the blood drained from his face.

This was All for One. The villain who had crippled All Might.

All for One focused on Hisashi. "What's happening here?"

"It seems one of Tomura's…allies saw fit to mutilate my son's neck in my absence," Hisashi muttered.

Izuku scowled at him. "What the hell did I tell you about acting like-"

"Peace, Izuku," All for One's voice, strong and authoritative, quieted Izuku immediately. The teenager dared not provoke this villain. He had some leeway with Hisashi because the man was determined to act like his father, but All for One…All for One was different. If he displeased this villain, he could steal Izuku's Quirk or kill him with horrifying ease.

All for One chuckled. "Hisashi, you shouldn't be so hard on him. I'm sure it was merely a romp between a pair of eager teenagers. It's nothing to concern yourself over."

Izuku froze. The way he said that…was he already aware that it was Himiko who had bitten him? How did he know?

And something else…the more All for One spoke, the more Izuku felt like…like he'd heard his voice before.

The villain turned to him now. Although Izuku could not see his eyes, he felt as though All for One was staring into his soul.

"I've wanted to speak with you ever since I saw you at the Sports Festival," he murmured. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Izuku Midoriya. Come, we have much to discuss. Hisashi, if you would, go and prepare the training room. Hmm…three should be a good place to start."

Hisashi nodded and walked away down the hall, leaving Izuku with All for One. The villain moved to stand by the door and gestured for the teenager to go inside. With a gulp, Izuku obeyed.

The room was large dimly lit, but it was ornately furnished and in the center was a long table of black lacquered wood. The walls were painted a deep burgundy and the tile floor was dark and well-polished.

All for One walked to the far end of the table and sat down. Unwilling to get close to the villain, Izuku took a seat on the opposite end.

That seemed to amuse the villain. "Cautious, aren't you?"

Izuku didn't reply. He leaned on his elbow, propping his chin on his hand as he stared across the table at All for One. The villain merely interlocked his fingers and leaned back, giving nothing away as Izuku studied him.

The teenager didn't like what he was seeing- or rather the lack of it. All for One did not move. He uttered not a word. He stayed still, like a lifeless statue, and only the soft sound of mechanical breathing gave Izuku any indication that the man was even alive.

He wasn't like the villains at the bar, although Izuku had suspected as much. He was confident and sure in his position. He did not meet Izuku's challenging stare with his own- he merely waited and allowed the boy to take his time with his observations.

Izuku took a few minutes to think about what he could do to get…something out of this guy. Some kind of response or…anything. Any possible weakness.

He removed his chin from his hand and curled his middle finger against his thumb-

 _"Should you be doing that, I wonder?"_

For a moment, Izuku felt like his heart stopped.

It was a kind of primal fear the like of which he'd never experienced. Not like Stain, not like Hisashi, not like…not like anything. It felt like if All for One so much as moved, Izuku would be dead.

 _If he snapped his fingers…_

 _If he breathed a little more strongly…_

 _If his head tilted to the right…_

 _If he tapped his foot…_

 ** _What in the fuck?_**

Izuku suddenly realized his heart was hammering and the blood was roaring in his ears. Sweat covered his face. His throat was parched and every breath was a struggle, as though he were at a high altitude. His stomach was clenching in ways that made him feel like he was about to vomit.

All for One remained silent, but the feeling of utter death disappeared. It hadn't lasted more than maybe half a second.

Izuku tried to regain control of his breathing as he stared at the villain in horror. This…this guy was so far beyond him it wasn't even funny. It made sense now why Hisashi obeyed him. Why All Might had warned him so strongly. Why Tomura believed in him with such fervor.

 _And he was_ ** _crippled_** _from his fight with All Might what the fuck…_

All for One chuckled, jerking Izuku out of his stupor. "I have no intention of harming you, Izuku. You may relax."

Relax? What the hell did that even _mean_ with this guy?!

"As I was saying earlier, I've been wanting to meet with you for quite some time now," All for One said. "I must admit, I was completely unaware Hisashi had a child until Tomura informed me of your existence after the USJ incident. It came as quite a surprise to me."

"Wh…what do you wa…" Izuku tried to speak, but it came out as a wheeze.

"What do I want? Well…put simply, I want to raise Tomura to become my successor. As I'm sure you're aware, he has some growing to do, but I believe he'll be an excellent candidate to take my place. As for you…I'd like for you to be one of his comrades and remain at his side."

"Why have a successor at all? I thought you were immortal," Izuku swallowed. "Didn't you steal a Quirk that stops aging?"

"I am immortal, not invincible. I can be killed, although it would take someone of considerable strength to do so. All Might, for instance. As All Might's pupil, I'm sure you understand the importance of passing on experience to the next generation, do you not? In our own ways, All Might and I were both crippled from our duel six years ago. We are not as powerful as we once were and our strength has waned. So just as he decided to bring you up as the next Symbol of Peace, I decided to make Tomura into the next Symbol of Evil."

"Is that why you want me? Because I have One for All?"

All for One chuckled. "Nothing quite so boring. Well, admittedly, One for All has become a rather formidable Quirk over the decades, but I was always interested in you before Hisashi discovered you were its ninth holder."

"After all, why would I not be interested in my grandson?"

Izuku's blood turned to ice.

"Wh…what did you just…"

"Such shock," All for One sounded even more amused than before. "I must find more ways to make you react like this. You heard me, Izuku. Hisashi is my "child" and that makes you my "grandchild" in that sense."

Horror and immediate denial erupted through him. "You're lying!"

"Am I?" All for One actually laughed this time. "I suppose perhaps I am! But only to a point. Hisashi is my "child" as I said, although I will admit his birth was far from natural."

"Where to begin…" The villain wondered aloud, drumming his fingers against the dark wood. "Hmm…yes. Probably best to start with the birth of All Flare. You should make yourself comfortable, Izuku. This is a rather long story."

"Quite simply, I recognized from the time I was a young man that with my Quirk, I could create an almost limitless number of combinations by taking Quirks from others and implanting them in a single body. However, as you might have already realized, doing so had a tendency to make them like living dolls- like the Noumus. The average human brain simply isn't prepared to deal with multiple Quirks. My Quirk allows me to be one of the exceptions."

"Rarely was I able to place more than one Quirk in an individual and have them emerge from the process unscathed. The odds of success were incredibly small and each one cost me a pawn. Well, there were countless pawns at my disposal, but it was still a waste. Moreover, the combination of Quirks produced the result I was searching for at an even less successful rate. I sought to find a different method. And I found it in genetics."

"While the world was in turmoil over the appearance of Quirks, I built up an empire with my power and drove the advancement of science and technology in certain areas. One of my goals was to find a way to house multiple Quirks in a single body, or to combine multiple Quirks into one without damaging the host's brain. It took no small amount of time to reach any success. Even locating the section of genetic code that developed Quirks took over a decade."

"Shortly after we succeeded in achieving that and developed a hypothesis on how to implant the genetic code for a Quirk into human embryonic cells, I discovered a rather fascinating Quirk."

"It was just a weak fire Quirk. The original owner could make a unique, green flame at her fingertips and any other flame she touched would change to that green fire. It wasn't anything spectacular- she often burned herself doing so and she had no control over the flames she changed, but I saw the potential of it. I took it from her."

"With that Quirk as a baseline, I decided to use it in one of our first genetic trials, but as I said, on its own it was nothing special. I stole a number of other fire Quirks from people as time went on and stored them in artificial humans while running tests, identifying from their genetic coding which Quirks were compatible with the "Green Flare" and which ones were not. As you are aware, I had no shortage of time, so I spent years searching for the right combination of abilities."

"Sun Forge, Hyperblaze, Immolate, Hellbreath…those were just a few of the Quirks which I combined with Green Flare after I concluded through our research that they were compatible. We fused them one by one into artificial humans- there was simply no other way to combine them. At the end of nearly thirty years of genetic testing and research, we came out of it with the most powerful fire Quirk the world had seen."

"But there was one more problem we faced. Despite combining those Quirks successfully, they still placed an enormous strain on the average human brain. Implanting the genetic code for that Quirk into embryonic cells as it was destroyed them immediately. There needed to be something else. So…I used my own DNA to create a copy of All for One- my Quirk."

"My Quirk is, at its base form, compatible with countless others. It must be or else I would become just like the Noumus. However, combining it with the fire Quirk we'd created in its early stages of development mutated it in such a way that it would only be able to steal fire Quirks, and for a limited time at that. Perhaps it was because the copied All for One was in an early development stage and adapted to merge with the overwhelming fire Quirk."

"With he addition of that mutated All for One, we came out of the experiment with All Flare."

"However, even with all the research we'd done, creating the Quirk was no guarantee it would successfully grow inside of an embryo. Our genetic technology at the time was still developing and was barely capable of implanting the genetic code for All Flare into those cells. We had to take more time to develop our technology despite All Flare waiting at the ready. Decades passed and we ran millions of tests to make All Flare and…other certain Quirks I'd been experimenting with develop in embryonic cells."

"And just over forty years ago," All for One concluded. "All Flare successfully developed in one of the embryos- an embryo which eventually grew into Hisashi."

"There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing the research you spent countless years on finally reach fruition. Hisashi was the only one out of those millions of embryonic cells that took to All Flare. With some enhancements of my own devising, he became a powerful child- although he was not able to utilize All Flare's ability to steal fire Quirks. Why it didn't develop in him, I don't know, but it might have been too much strain on his cells in those early stages and the "All for One" aspect was simply put in a dormant state."

"I groomed him as though he were my own child in order to make him into one of my most powerful pawns- in his prime, he was almost as powerful as All Might. One of my most successful creations, intelligent, powerful, and capable of far more devastation than any Noumu. I'd always intended to clone him at some point when he grew old, but never did I imagine he would one day father _you."_

All for One looked at Izuku in a way that seemed like pride or something- but not as though he were proud of Izuku…More like how a breeder was proud of a particularly excellent offspring they'd managed to get from their animals.

"Quite honestly, I didn't think Hisashi's body was even fertile after all the experiments and how his Quirk was implanted into him. You have no idea what a happy accident you turned out to be for me, Izuku…One of my most successful experiments, producing an even greater result…It's the sort of thing that many researchers only dream of. The latent gene for All for One, which was dormant in Hisashi, was likely triggered due to its combination with your mother's Quirk- the ability to attract small objects. Whether it was by fate or chance…you are, in a way, one of my "children". You are mine."

Those last three words made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and Izuku momentarily forgot his shock and disbelief after hearing All for One's story.

 _You are mine._

It clicked. All for One's voice was the one he'd heard in the Sports Festival- when Hitoshi had tried to brainwash him. Was that voice an echo of his power?

"Of course, even you aren't perfect," All for One jerked him out of his thoughts with another chuckle. "Far from it. It would seem that some of the Quirks we originally built into All Flare like Hellbreath didn't take to you, and others like Sun Forge put such a strain on you that your body is currently unable to withstand it. Sun Forge, I might add, seems to trigger when you make use of your ability to "borrow" another fire Quirk from someone."

"But that is besides the point. What fascinates me is that out of the numerous Chimera I spent such time creating, you are the only one so far who was born naturally. Well, to my knowledge. I do wonder what the rest of my Chimera have gotten up to these past few years…Children do, after all, have a tendency to grow up and lead their own lives. But in the end, they never forget to return to where they came from- just like Hisashi."

Izuku's eyes grew large. "Th-there's _more?"_

"But of course," All for One chuckled. "Why spend decades trying to develop one special weapon when you can attempt to make several at once with differing abilities? Well, I've had the rest of my Chimera go into hiding ever since All Might defeated your father, so only Hisashi has had a significant impact on society. Of the six Chimera I created, he probably ranks in the third spot at the moment since he's weakened over the years. Should we count you as the seventh Chimera, you rank at number seven, of course."

He gulped heavily. There were five more of these…genetic monsters like Hisashi out there- two of which might be even stronger than he was. These people who had all of these Quirks stuffed into them, to turn them into living weapons…

"Well, we shall be finding out where you stand amongst my experiments soon enough," All for One stood up and walked around the table to Izuku, who felt too weak in the man's presence to move as he got closer. "Hisashi should have prepared the testing room for you by now. Come along, Izuku."

* * *

Toshinori arrived at the hospital for the umpteenth time over the last three or so days. When he'd heard the camp had been attacked, he'd been horrified, but his horror became a terrible black hole when he heard Izuku had been taken.

He hadn't been that enraged in a long, long time. The only thing that kept him from completely losing his cool was that Inko, Eri, and the students needed him- and that Izuku was no doubt alive somewhere. The time for his fury would be when he found the villains responsible for this.

It was a miracle Hisashi hadn't killed someone, but Pixie-Bob was still critical and they had no idea where Ragdoll was. He feared the worst for her.

He made his way to Momo's room- he'd been told that she'd awoken and as a teacher to these students, he'd made a personal effort to come and see each and every one to ensure they were recovering. Momo had apparently just woken up.

Toshinori opened the door, but paused before he could say anything. Momo was awake, but Katsuki was here too- crying in her arms.

The teenage boy stiffened immediately and pulled away from Momo, twisting his head to wipe his eyes so Toshinori couldn't see his face. "What do you want, All Might?"

Toshinori felt his heart clench. He'd never known Katsuki to sound so defeated, even after he'd failed the exams- back then, he'd been furious and driven to win the next time he fought All Might.

There was none of that fire now. Hisashi had stolen it along with Izuku.

"I came to see young Momo," he responded quietly, turning to smile at the young lady. "I'm grateful to see you recovering from your injuries."

"Thank you, All Might," she said gratefully. Momo glanced at Katsuki and bit her lip for a moment, apparently thinking about something. "Actually…would you mind closing the door? I have something I need to share with you."

All Might nodded and did as she asked, leaning against the door to keep others from opening it so they had some privacy.

Momo reached for Katsuki and managed to take his wrist. Toshinori could tell just from the way Katsuki didn't try to pull away how badly shaken he was.

She took a breath and then spoke. "I might have a way to track the villains to their hideout."

Katsuki stiffened. All Might's eyes gleamed.

"When we were in the forest, Yosetsu from Class B and I were attacked by a villain," Momo began. "We were taken by surprise and it hit my head, but Yosetsu managed to carry me and run when it chased us. I'm not sure what it was, but I think it was some kind of…modified human, like the Noumu from USJ. Anyways, at some point, it stopped chasing us and just shut down. I think at that moment, it might have been called back by its masters, so…Yosetsu and I teamed up."

"His Quirk is called "Welding" and it allows him to bind objects together at the molecular level. I created a location transmitter when the villain started to leave and Yosetsu welded it onto its body."

Momo held her arm out and concentrated for a moment. After a few seconds, a small, phone-like device emerged from her palm. "This is the tracker. If you use it, it should be able to find the signal from the transmitter."

All Might walked over and took the device carefully when Momo offered it to him. "When we were setting up the exams, Aizawa placed you with Izuku because he felt you lacked the ability to make split-second decisions…Look how much you've grown in such a short time, Momo."

"This was all I could do," she murmured, glancing at Katsuki. The teenage boy had twisted his head and was staring at the transmitter, but turned to Momo after a moment with wide eyes. "But with this…we might be able to find the villains…and Izuku."

She saw a spark.

* * *

All for One led Izuku to a large room in a basement-like structure, but a basement larger than any he'd ever seen. It was almost as big as the TDL at U.A.

Hisashi was already there, leaning against the wall by the door with his arms crossed. He didn't say anything as All for One lifted his hand and gestured towards a trio of Noumu standing in the middle of the room.

"This is your first lesson with me," All for One told Izuku. "It's the bare minimum by my standards, but given your current level of strength and experience, I think they'll present a challenge to you. Kill them."

Izuku twisted his head to object, but All for One snapped his fingers and stepped away.

Immediately, the three Noumu were rushing at him. All of them were only about as fast as an average man, but they spread out and tried to corner him. One of the Noumu lifted its arm, which grew sharp, bird-like talons to slash at him.

Izuku lit up with Overdrive and dove away, but another one of the Noumu suddenly sped up- it had a speed-enhancing Quirk like Tenya- and delivered a powerful kick into his gut. Izuku grabbed it by the leg and spun, then slammed it into the ground face-first.

He suddenly screamed as something thick and sharp crashed into his back, sending him tumbling over the floor. As he tried to push himself up, Izuku saw that the third Noumu had oversized, boar-like tusks protruding from its jaws. He didn't get a chance to rest- the first Noumu was slashing at him again and the second was back on its feet and racing at him.

"They won't stop," All for One called to him calmly. "Even if I order them to. These Noumu are designed to attack until their target is dead. You won't get any help from us."

"I thought you said I was important to you!" Izuku yelled back, dodging another swing from a Noumu.

"You're unique, not invaluable," All for One corrected. "If you can't handle this much, you're of no use to Tomura. Moreover, even if you should die, I have what I need from you. If you want to survive, then I suggest you learn how to kill."

Izuku snarled as the third Noumu managed to drive its tusks into his right shoulder. With the other two Noumu closing in on him, he felt a rush of fear and grabbed at its skull. The temperature surged and with a convulsion through its body, the Noumu collapsed.

 _Heroes are taught throughout their training to restrain their powers to some degree to avoid killing others,_ One for All thought to himself. _Deadly force is only used when they have no other choice. Part of the reason they're put through such extensive training is so that they don't panic and go overboard with their powers. Izuku…you've only been training for three months to be a hero and your control over your Quirks is still shaky at best. Just by being made to kill over and over again, it'll be that much harder for you to stop yourself from using that deadly force in a moment of crisis._

 _All it will take is one slip up on your part, one accidental death, and the public will be on you like hounds. Your reputation as Hisashi's son already puts you on shaky ground with the majority of people. If you kill a person, and another, and another, then even if it's by accident, there are going to be those who believe you are becoming your father. One way or another, you'll be slowly ostracized until you are left alone. Killers are always seen in a different light- even those who kill in the name of "justice" are rarely treated the same after they commit such an act. It can even make those who love them see them in a different light._

Izuku managed to get an arm wrapped around the first Noumu's neck and clung onto it from the back. While the beast lifted its hands to claw at him, he pointed one of his fingers at the side of its head, point-blank, and flicked at 100%. The Noumu's neck snapped and it slumped over as the last remaining Noumu drove another vicious kick into Izuku's stomach.

All for One hummed thoughtfully. _You'll have to forgive me for resorting to such brutish lengths with you Izuku. I suspect our time together will be short, so I must beat into you the basics of being a villain while I can. Try and forget them if you can, but I know from experience my lessons tend to stick._

 _If nothing else, this will increase your desperation to escape. What lengths will you go to in order to manipulate Himiko now, I wonder?_

Izuku tripped the last Noumu by kicking out one of its legs and then slammed its head into the ground. He tried to pin it down, but it was still bigger and stronger than he was, even with Overdrive. He spun his head towards All for One. "Make it stop!"

"Stop!" All for One cried, laughing when the Noumu continued to struggle. "I told you Izuku, it won't stop until it's killed you. If you want this lesson to end, then kill it before it takes your life."

He couldn't keep it down for any longer- it was already pushing itself onto its hands and knees. Screaming in fear and frustration, Izuku grabbed its skull and made the temperature surge until the Noumu collapsed, twitching, into a heap on the floor.

He rolled away from the artificial human's body, gasping for breath and bleeding from several stab wounds in his shoulder and back. None of them were deep or life-threatening, but they hurt like all hell and he was pretty sure his ribs were cracked in one or two spots.

"Well done," All for One praised, clapping his hands. "Rather inefficient, but it's merely the first lesson, after all. One can't expect perfection immediately."

Izuku struggled to stand up, his shirt in tatters and his balance uneven. "What do you mean…first lesson?"

"You'll repeat this exercise tomorrow with three more Noumu, all of which will be somewhat stronger than these," All for One told him, striking horror into the boy's face. "Prepare yourself."

All for One turned to Hisashi. "Contact Kurogiri and have him sent back to the bar. Have his wounds treated and then return to me."

Hisashi merely nodded and walked over to Izuku while All for One left the room.

 _And so the snow white canvas has been tainted with a drop of red…_

* * *

"That was sloppy," Hisashi told Izuku as he soaked up some of the blood from the teenager's shoulder wound. Izuku tried to ignore him in his chair at the bar. The other villains were watching with interest- all of them had been surprised when Hisashi came back with Izuku, who was bloodied and sporting several injuries.

"How do you expect to survive tomorrow's lesson if you fight like this?" Hisashi snapped at the boy. "The Noumu won't cut you any slack because you don't feel like killing them."

"Can you just shut up?" Izuku muttered lowly. "What did mom even see in a guy like you?"

Hisashi stiffened and his eyes smoldered. "You don't know anything about me."

"I don't _want_ to know," he retorted. "Just…just fix me and get out. Go away."

Tomura chuckled from his seat on the opposite side of the bar. "Teacher put you through lesson one, eh?"

Izuku shot him a glare and then threw up a perfect middle finger at the villain. Tomura outright laughed.

Hisashi finished treating Izuku and grunted. "I'll be teaching you personally tomorrow. I can't stand seeing you fight with All Flare like that- it's disgraceful."

"Go away!" Izuku all but demanded.

Hisashi gripped his shoulder and squeezed the wound until Izuku cried out and tried to grab at his wrist, but the older man had already pulled away from him. Fresh blood started to blossom under the bandages.

"The next time you take that tone with me, I'll be fighting you before you take on the Noumus. I won't be gentle about it."

Kurogiri opened a warp gate and Hisashi left, leaving Izuku to nurse the pain of his injuries alone. Twice approached and seemed like he kind of wanted to offer help, but Izuku shot him a withering glare that made him back off.

Kurogiri sighed and glanced at Izuku. "Would you like pain medication?"

"…please," he managed, his face scrunched up from the throbbing in his shoulder.

"Teacher ain't gonna be gentle about his lessons," Tomura told Izuku casually, leaning against his hand on the bar. "This ain't some half-assed academy like U.A where you only learn how to fight."

Izuku ignored him and took the pain medication from Kurogiri, putting it down with a glass of water before leaving for his room in silence.

Magne whistled. "Who the hell is your Teacher, Tomura? He was all fire and no fear yesterday."

Tomura snickered. "Teacher's just getting started."

Himiko's nose scrunched up in a slight frown at that and her gaze trailed towards the door where Izuku had disappeared.

* * *

Izuku sat in his room for a few hours alone, only taking a short time to eat when Kurogiri brought him food. He didn't want to see the other villains, didn't want to hear about what other dreaded "lessons" All for One had in store for him. He just…he wanted to be alone.

He was too tired from the brief, violent fighting to spend time thinking about escape. Unless someone saved him between now and tomorrow, he had another fight to look forward to- another life and death struggle.

Hisashi was also apparently going to teach him. He wondered if he could kill the guy by smashing his face in at 100%.

He'd probably die trying.

As it got late, he heard the door open and Himiko peeked inside to find him. He looked at her tiredly as she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. She turned to face him and walked up to the other teenager.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For…for saving me this morning."

Izuku shook his head and looked away. "I wasn't going to just let him kill you."

"Even so…Nobody has ever really defended me before," Himiko told him. "So you know. I appreciate it, I guess."

"…you're welcome."

She sat down beside him, the playfulness he'd associated with her from yesterday now a little quieter. Himiko turned her head and her eyes fixed on the red bandages on her shoulder. She bit her lip.

Her fixation on blood perplexed him and Izuku was just tired enough to not immediately disregard the thoughts of someone who most considered a psychopath. "What is it with you and blood?"

Himiko's eyes flit up to meet his and she thought about it for a few moments before turning her head to stare at the wall. "It's…what do you call it…It helps me relax. There's a word for it, um…"

Izuku frowned. "What, like…like a coping mechanism?"

"I…maybe?"

How the hell did _blood_ become a _coping mechanism_ for…well, anybody?

She tilted her head to one side. "How do I put this…Looking at it, tasting it, and smelling it just makes it easier for me to focus and think, I guess."

"How does that even happen?" He asked, bewildered.

Himiko's eyes grew a little hazy- a little more…like the psychotic girl he'd first met. "I'm not talking about that. I don't like thinking about it and it makes my mind get fuzzy and weird."

She leaned against his shoulder carefully and took a breath. He could see the change in her yellow orbs as the scent of his blood made the focus return to her eyes.

Izuku was bewildered by the admission. Himiko murdered and bled people because it helped her cope with…something. What might have happened for her to develop such a freakish mental stimulus, he had no idea, but it was clear that she didn't suffer from some kind of inborn mental condition. It had been inflicted on her and the only way she was able to achieve some kind of normality- some kind of clarity- was by introducing blood to her five senses.

If she repressed her need, he'd bet that it made her agitated and psychotic, which brought out the killer she was known to be. Murder- actually, just the stimulation of blood- would bring her back to a sane level of mental stability, or as stable as she could be with this kind of condition.

When she was stable like she was now, she was more relaxed- less inclined to surprise him and a little quieter. More coherent and thoughtful.

"Himiko," Izuku asked hesitantly, to which she responded with a hum. "Do you…I mean, would you rather…if you had the choice, would you rather kill someone or let me…I guess satiate you? If it's the bleeding that you want, I can…"

She turned her gaze up to look at him and he could see the difference immediately. She was legitimately thinking about it- she wasn't being playful and crazy.

"I mean…this is easier. I don't get in trouble for it, either," she said. "But it doesn't really matter, right? I mean, at the end of the day, I've already killed a bunch of people. It's not like I can just swap over to you and everyone'll be cool with that. I…I want to keep my freedom."

"But if you could pick one-"

"You," she murmured, leaning her cheek on his shoulder until her face was smushed up. "I think you…actually give a damn about what's going on with me, don't you? I don't know if that's because you wanna be a hero or whatever, but you listen to me and you protected me from Viper. I've never really known someone like you. Everyone either wants to kill me or says I'm crazy and I belong in a jail cell."

Izuku licked his lips as he thought about where he could go from here. Himiko wasn't just someone he could use to escape- she was someone who needed his help. Someone he could _save_. He'd managed to get closer to her than anyone else and she'd told him something important about herself- that her fixation on blood was because of some kind of mental necessity to keep her grounded to reality. Something like that was surely treatable and moreover…if he gave her this option, she'd stop killing people.

The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced he could save her, somehow.

"Can you let me do that for you, then?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I can be that person you need," he told her fervently, getting her attention. "If you need blood, you can come to me for it. I can help you."

Her eyes narrowed. "You better not be talking about dragging me to some mental hospital."

"No!" He replied, then hesitated. "Well…okay, that's probably what needs to happen, but-"

"Thought so," she stood up and made to leave.

Panicking, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Doing so made her trip and she half-turned, landing on his lap and sitting there nose-to-nose with him. Izuku reddened and he saw the faint flush of color across Himiko's cheeks, but she still looked at him coldly.

"Let me go."

"Can you just listen for a second?" He pleaded. Himiko didn't move, so Izuku took that as permission to go on. "I-I'm not saying you belong in a mental hospital, but I'm saying that might be where we can figure out how to-"

"-fix me? Is there something wrong with me, Izuku? Do I look sick to you?"

"Not right now, you don't," he told her, catching the girl off-guard. "That's what I'm saying! Right now- you're a completely different person, Himiko! You…you're acting like a normal high school girl from my class. If we can figure out how to help you stay like this, you won't have to hurt people anymore and you might even be able to have the freedom you want!"

"What are you getting at?"

"I want to save you!"

The room grew quiet. Izuku stared at her with all the strength he could muster and put all his feelings into those words. "I want to save you."

Himiko was silent for several moments. It was hard to see her eyes in the dark, but he thought he saw a glimmer- something like hope or maybe belief. "Wanting is one thing. _Can_ you do that?"

"I will. I'll find a way."

She snorted. "That's a corny thing to say."

"Yeah, it's a little corny."

"No, it's a _lot_ corny," she corrected.

Himiko bit her lip and let out a sigh. "How are you going to save me from here?"

Izuku lifted one of his hands and pressed lightly against his shoulder wound, wincing as a little more blood seeped from it. Her eyes gleamed and became even clearer. "I can start with just this."

"Look at your noble ass, bleeding to save me like a great hero."

The corner of his lip twitched up in a small smiled. Himiko lowered her head and pressed her lips against the red cloth, tasting the iron. Her fingers teased the bandages, eager to remove them. "I can't promise you anything. As long as we're with Tomura and the others, I might have to kill to keep my place here."

"I know," he swallowed. That was always going to be one of the risks.

"But…if I can get away with it," she murmured, lifting her eyes up to meet his. "I'll try not to. But only if…if we can keep doing this. If I can't keep my head clear, I don't know how long I'll be able to go before I snap again."

He nodded. "I'll keep you together."

She pulled the bandages away and latched onto his wound. Izuku ran his fingers through her hair as she trembled and reached up with one hand to lightly drag her nails down the back of his neck.

* * *

 **A/N: And there's the origins of All Flare. Also, I feel it is necessary to inform you all that I came up with a rather tragic ending to an arc later down the line for this story. It's not relevant now, but I think if I write it correctly, I'll have you guys swimming in feels.**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	27. Ties

_Chapter Twenty Seven: Ties_

The next morning for Izuku, his third day with the League of Villains, marked several firsts for the teenager.

The first noticeable difference was the fact that he was not alone in bed when he woke up. Now normally this would not be unusual because Eri liked to cuddle- but Eri was also not almost as tall as him and she certainly did not have the… _things_ pressing against his arm.

Izuku blinked his eyes wide open and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds as he tried to figure out what was on top of him. He quickly identified the object as some living thing due to the steady breathing, but couldn't understand why it was so…warm and smooth.

Slowly, his eyes slid down and he reddened immediately.

It was Himiko- of course it was Himiko, who the hell else?- and she had apparently decided not only to crash in his room, but to cuddle up practically on top of him under the blankets. She was still asleep and had her face smushed up against his shoulder, mouth open and the slightest bit of drool leaving the corner of her lips.

For once, she'd undone the buns on the side of her head and let her hair down. With her blonde hair splayed out in a mess over her face and his shoulder, Izuku gulped. _Sh-she's cute. No, no, no, I can't think that! She's a villain! Well, I want to help her, but still…_

She twitched slightly and rubbed her face against his bare shoulder, making a soft noise in the back of her throat. Izuku felt his whole body getting warmer. _Dammit, she's cute! Can't she at least look like a villain?! Also, why the hell is she in my bed like this?!_

"U-Um…" Izuku swallowed hard. "H-Himiko, c-can you wake up?"

The girl's nose scrunched up in a frown and her eyes opened into lazy slits "…huwah…"

"Pl-please, do you mind getting off of me?" He asked politely, praying she wouldn't notice his…teenager hormones getting the better of him. That would just be fun to deal with first thing in the morning.

Himiko whined, but then pulled away from him and lay on her belly, stretching her arms out in front of her and yawning like a cat. She slowly lifted herself to sit up and the covers fell away from her. She blinked at Izuku sleepily and he was ashamed to admit that, with her hair down in a messy sprawl around her face and those big, half-awake amber eyes, she'd officially gone from being cute to straight beautiful. "Morning…"

Izuku's eyes trailed down from her face for a moment. His vision was met by bare skin. A lot of it. Most of it, in fact, seeing as Himiko had apparently decided to crash in just her underwear.

He actually exploded.

"AAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Himiko plugged her ears with her fingers and whined. "You're loud…"

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU _NAKED?!"_ He screamed, pulled away from her and practically buried his face into his pillow to hide himself. The fabric legitimately started smoking from the sheer heat he was producing.

"Why…lemme think for a sec…" She yawned again and looked down at her mostly bare body, unashamed as she took her time to recall the night before. "Oh, right. You passed out from blood loss at some point and I was too lazy to go back to my room, so I decided to sleep here."

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

"I always sleep like this," Himiko seemed to be dozing in and out of consciousness. "It's comfy. Also, your body is really warm, so trying to sleep in clothes would've been too hot."

Izuku had a full body blush all the way down to his soul. What in the hell was with this girl?! Was he even a virgin anymore?! Would Katsuki murder him if he found out about this?!

Trying to force down his embarrassment, he took a deep breath. "Can you please put some clothes on?"

"Uh-huh."

He heard the rustle of clothing and did his best not to let his imagination wander. Fuck, what was he even supposed to think now that he'd seen her like that?!

"Okay, I'm dressed."

Izuku groaned and sat up. "If you decide to stay in my room you could at least- AHHH!"

He immediately threw his head back into the pillow, the blush returning tenfold. Himiko's version of being "dressed" apparently amounted to just putting on one of his shirts and leaving it at that. She'd had her back turned to him and now he had another new visual to drive his teenage mind absolutely insane.

"THAT DOESN'T COUNT AS BEING DRESSED!"

"It's the same amount of clothing you have on," she yawned again, walking over to his bed and leaning over to poke the back of his neck. "I don't know what you're freaking out about. You act like you've never seen a girl naked before, Izu."

"Why the hell would I have?!"

"You're a boy, duh. Don't you guys look up stuff like that?"

"I-I don't…"

Himiko raised an eyebrow and then grinned mischievously. Her fingers trailed down the back of his neck in a way that made him shiver. "Ohh, you're _that_ kind of innocent…I found out something fun~"

"Can you pick a personality already?! Are you a serial killer, a high schooler, or an exhibitionist?!"

"All three!"

"Himiko, PLEASE just get dressed!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"

Izuku felt utter annoyance go through him as he heard Tomura's voice yelling from somewhere and sat back up in an instant to yell back. "FUCK YOU!"

"Wow, Izu! So direct!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN!"

"IF I HAVE TO GET UP, YOU ARE BOTH GONNA DIE!"

"IT'S TOO EARLY FOR THIS!" Magne snapped.

"STOP YELLING!" Spinner roared.

"STAB YOURSELF!" Tomura retorted.

"YOU STAB ME!" That was Twice.

"Can I stab him?" Himiko asked curiously.

"You can't stab him!" Izuku told her, blushing furiously as his eyes found her terribly attractive figure leaning over in his shirt once again. She grinned at his obvious embarrassment and stuck her tongue out teasingly.

Izuku just wanted to die.

* * *

He wasn't even sure what the hell was going on in this damn place anymore.

Apparently, Kurogiri was off running errands or something like that, so Izuku came into the bar to find the other villains sitting about the place doing their own unique morning rituals- Spinner was sharpening his blades, Magne was reading a newspaper, Tomura was half-slumped on the bar, and Dabi looked wide awake, but bored out of his mind. Twice seemed to be sleeping in again and he wasn't quite sure where Compress was.

For a moment, Izuku was tempted by the idea of escape seeing as Kurogiri wasn't there to warp him back if he made the bar explode, but even without Kurogiri around…there were still five or six villains present. Dabi he could handle and Izuku thought Himiko might be more inclined to help him…but he didn't know anything about Magne or Spinner's Quirks and there was every possibility that Twice and Compress were nearby, the latter of which had kept his Quirk hidden from Izuku so far.

He needed more data to take advantage of a situation like this effectively. Even so, he made note that Kurogiri appeared to leave in the mornings at times and that Twice's sleeping habits seemed to be consistent.

Himiko wandered into the room behind Izuku, her hair back up and wearing her normal school outfit. She looked towards the bar and mumbled. "Food."

"Kurogiri's out, we gotta wait," Tomura complained.

"I'm not waiting on him," Izuku muttered, too tired and sore and hungry to give a damn about what was taking the League of Villains' self-proclaimed cook. He hopped over to the other side of the bar and opened up the fridge to look for something to make. There was a perfectly good stove available and cooking utensils in one of the cupboards.

"What are you doing?" Tomura asked, his eyes following Izuku with some irritation for waking him up with his earlier yelling.

"I'm hungry," he retorted. "Don't just keep me prisoner if you can't feed me, you ass."

"I'm going to disintegrate you later."

"You'll have to clean me up, then," Izuku grunted absently as he found some eggs, onions, and simple herbs. Screw it, he wanted something simple. An omelette would do. There was also some rice. That would work.

He wasn't actually sure what he'd expected villains to keep for food, but at least bacon seemed to be universal amongst the good and the evil.

Izuku started cooking, scowling whenever he had to dig around the drawers for things like knives or forks. He pulled out a big cutting knife to dice up the onion and Tomura leered at him.

"Put that back. You don't get to have a knife."

He glared back at the villain irritably. "I'm just cooking."

"I don't give a shit."

"Fine," Izuku scowled and glanced across the bar. "Hey, Spinner!"

The reptilian man looked up and Izuku almost threw the onion at him. "Make yourself useful and dice that."

Spinner's brow twitched in annoyance as he caught the vegetable. "Why should I?"

"Because your boss is a jerk who won't let me have sharp objects."

"Not my problem."

"What if I make you something to eat?"

Spinner paused. Whatever Izuku was making _did_ smell pretty good so far…

"…fine."

After bringing the onion back to the bar and slicing it in a matter of seconds into little pieces, Izuku took them from Spinner and mixed them into the omelets that were cooking. By now, he had the attention of most of the bar's inhabitants.

He noticed the hungry villains and felt his brow twitch. "Don't any of you know how to feed yourselves?"

"I could, but you're already there," Magne pointed out.

"Izu, can I have some?" Himiko was practically drooling.

Twice suddenly walked into the room, sniffing through his bodysuit. "What smells so fucking good?! It sucks!"

Izuku rolled his eyes and sighed. If nothing else, it'd kill some time…and maybe he'd find out more about their personalities so he could escape later. "How many people want some?"

"MEMEMEME!" Himiko jumped up and down in excitement.

Magne nodded. "I won't say no."

"I want some!" Twice added.

Izuku glanced at Tomura, whose eyes had narrowed as though he couldn't decide if it was worth bending his pride to be fed by his own prisoner.

"Give me some."

"No. Ask me nicely."

"Fuck you."

"I'm eating your share."

Tomura huffed and looked away. Izuku ignored the irritable man and merely continued to make breakfast for his villainous audience. At this point, he was about 100% sure they'd drugged him with some hallucinogen and he was now tripping out of his mind. There could literally be no other explanation for how he'd wound up in this situation.

Half an hour later and everyone- minus Tomura, of course- had a plate of food in front of them at the bar and was devouring it greedily.

Himiko took a single bite and then turned to Izuku and said very seriously. "Marry me."

He almost choked on a bite of his own omelette, unable to respond.

"It's so good!" Twice cried, having pulled his mask up to stuff the food into his mouth. "I'm eating from the hands of God!"

"Hey God, is there any bacon left?" Dabi asked lazily.

"Yeah, there's a little left," Izuku replied once he managed to get the omelette down his throat without choking to death. He retrieved the last of the bacon and gave it to Dabi, who muttered his thanks.

Izuku looked up and down the bar as he ate his own breakfast and felt himself questioning a lot of things, mainly how in the hell he'd ended up as the cook for his own captors. What even was his life now?

Tomura's stomach growled and Izuku managed to hide a smug grin as the older man scowled. The villain glanced at Izuku and seemed to realize that the teenager was struggling to keep his lips from curving up. It was so petty, but he didn't care- the bastard deserved to go hungry.

"Go to hell!"

"I'm already here, you ass!"

* * *

Hisashi leaned back against the wall of the dark room, watching All for One as the man studied something on the computer monitors in front of him.

"Hmm…It's going to take some time to process this data," the villain hummed to himself. "If I'd known about Izuku when he was first born…"

He trailed off for a few moments and finally acknowledged Hisashi's presence. "I'll leave training Izuku to you today. I'm due for another treatment soon."

"What of my enhancements?"

"Your body isn't ready to receive the next dose yet. You'll have to acclimate to them again- it's been sixteen years since you last took them regularly. Well, you might use this chance to show Izuku the difference between your Quirks."

Hisashi's eyes narrowed. "He's bound to notice. He's a sharp kid."

"I do wonder where he gets that from?" All for One chuckled. "But even so, that's fine. He needs to grow, just like Tomura. Moreover, I want to know the details of which Quirks manifested in him from the original All Flare. Although the goal of training him this way is to get him used to using excessive violence, it's also for the purpose of identifying the true nature of his Quirk."

"Which ones have you confirmed?"

"At the moment, the only ones he's demonstrated are Immolate, Sun Forge, and Thermoshape. I suspect he'll be capable of Hyperblaze, but Hellbreath doesn't seem to have manifested or he'd likely have discovered it by now. Test him for Heat Blade and Hyperblaze today."

"Shouldn't we find out if he has Pyroclasm?"

All for One was silent for several moments. "Even if Pyroclasm manifested in Izuku, with his current strength, a full-on blast would devastate his body. You do remember what happened from the Sports Festival footage I showed you, do you not? If Sun Forge does that to him, Pyroclasm may have an even more dangerous effect."

"Isn't it all the more important we find out, then? If he discovers it on accident-"

"He doesn't have the reserves you do, Hisashi. He won't be able to just produce Pyroclasm on his own. If it's on a smaller scale, that won't hurt him too badly. The odds of him discovering Pyroclasm at its fullest output are remote. He'd probably die from the heat before he even reached that stage."

"…I still think we should find out sooner than later."

All for One turned slightly in his chair. Hisashi rarely questioned his decisions more than once, but he had become more insistent with matters relating to Izuku. Well…then again, Hisashi had never been a father before. All for One supposed he understood what was going on with him.

He was silent for several minutes as he considered the idea, tapping his finger rhythmically against his desk. There was merit to this…after all, if Izuku was capable of Pyroclasm…his destructive potential would escalate massively. Even on a small scale, it would be an asset.

After all, Hisashi had destroyed a city fighting All Might with Pyroclasm.

At last, he made a decision.

"…bring in three of the fire-class Noumu I've developed and the combat variant we sent to attack the training camp," All for One told him. "I want you to show him how to use Pyroclasm."

Hisashi raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to see if he can do it on his own?"

"Fighting for his life is a good way to see what he's capable of, but with something like Pyroclasm, it's best if we point him in the right direction," the villain reasoned. "Moreover, you should use this chance to get closer to him. You two have been at each other's throats since your first encounter. Constantly fighting with him will only heighten his grudge. Establish a connection with him that isn't based on hatred."

"…I'm not sure I know how."

"Of course you don't, you're a new father! I believe you'll figure it out. Prison has made you harsher, but you still have your old soft side, do you not? Show him you can be compassionate. Take this chance to make Izuku form another bond within the League of Villains. I'd rather not leave it at just Himiko."

Hisashi scowled. "So you _were_ aware of it."

"I was. I'd hoped he'd connect with her. Out of all of Tomura's comrades, she was always going to be the one he could get closest to. An individual his age, as damaged as her and outcast from society, but still with the hope of being "saved"? Izuku is intelligent, yet compassionate- he has a hero's mentality, just like All Might. Once he figured out that Himiko's compulsion could be reasoned with and addressed, he was never going to be able to resist wanting to save her."

"What if he turns her against us?"

"What if he does? Regardless of their wishes, Himiko is still a wanted killer. Even if she betrays the League, she'll have nowhere to go but prison. Her desire for freedom won't allow her to leave on a whim and I doubt Izuku will simply give up on saving her, young and optimistic as he is. As long as she lives amongst the League of Villains, we'll have an influence that can be used against Izuku."

"And the bites she's leaving all over his neck?"

All for One laughed. "My dear Hisashi, you have a parental side, after all! Don't fret, don't fret. I suspect that the bites are a result of their attempts to keep Himiko's unstable, violent urges under control. It likely looks worse than it really is. Besides…youngsters their age can confuse such closeness with affection so very easily, especially in a situation where tensions are high. Seeing as Izuku is under constant stress from being held hostage and Himiko may think he can truly help her, they may form a connection deeper than the savior and the saved. Well, if they do, it'll make it that much more difficult for Izuku to completely sever his ties to the League."

"Now prepare the Noumu and then retrieve Izuku. Time is short- I suspect his captivity will not last much longer."

* * *

Toshinori hesitantly lifted his skeletal hand to knock on the door of the Midoriya apartment. After a few moments, the handle turned and the door opened, revealing Inko. The woman looked exhausted and ready to drop at any moment- it was clear she hadn't been sleeping or eating well. She looked a little too pale and her eyes had dark bags under them.

She let him in without a word and Toshinori waited until she closed the door before saying anything. "Eri?"

"She's in their room," Inko's voice was hoarse and weak. There were still tear stains down her cheeks and Toshinori's heart broke to see her so distressed. "She barely leaves it. I've been with her every moment, but…she misses him. I miss him."

"I know," Toshinori murmured, lifting his arm to bring her into a firm, but gentle embrace. He was silent for a few more seconds. "Inko."

"What?"

"…he'll be back with you by tonight."

Inko's eyes widened and she pulled back to stare up at him. Toshinori's face was grim. "What do you…"

"I can't say much, except that we've tracked them down," he told her quietly. "If all goes well, it will be over quickly, but…Hisashi will undoubtedly be there. A battle will likely be unavoidable. If it means saving Izuku, I-"

"Don't," she whispered, hiding her face in his shirt. "Please don't finish that sentence. Just…just come back with him. Both of you. Come back to me."

Toshinori wanted to tell her that there may be no way around it. He suspected not only Hisashi, but All for One would be waiting for him tonight. The stakes had never been higher between them; this was a fight for the future of the hero society. And between him and Hisashi, a fight for a boy they both saw as their son. He would fight to the bitter end. He wanted to be truthful and honest with her.

But he had never been good at refusing her and the one time he had, it hadn't ended well for either of them. He regretted that one refusal more than anyone could imagine.

"I'll come back with him. I promise."

* * *

In the hospital, Momo was beginning to regret having made the tracker for All Might in front of Katsuki. She'd done it to raise his spirits, and had succeeded, but maybe too much so.

"What's it going to take to convince you to make another tracker?"

She looked at the boy warily. She would be free to leave the hospital in a few hours once her last checkup was completed, but Katsuki had come by again to see her before she was released. Momo wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, but…she probably shouldn't have been surprised the conversation went this way. Katsuki wasn't known for being easygoing about Izuku's wellbeing, after all.

"Why do you want one?"

"To find out where he is."

"And?"

He went quiet and a slight scowl formed on his face. Momo gazed at him steadily. "I'm not a fool, Katsuki. You mean to go and rescue him yourself, don't you? Even knowing who our opponents are and that All Might is on top of it, you still want to go?"

He didn't answer her and she sighed. Of course he did, that was a stupid question to ask.

"What would you do?"

"Break him out, of course."

"How so? We aren't allowed to engage the villains, we don't have our licenses yet," she pointed out. "The temporary clearance Mr. Aizawa gave us has been revoked. Going to attack the villains is not only a likely suicide mission, it's illegal. If we're caught or things go bad, the likelihood that we'll be expelled from U.A is high."

"We're not going to pick a fight."

Momo blinked in surprise as Katsuki glanced towards the window. "Of course it'd be illegal to fight them, even if I wanna beat them into a bloody stain. And it's not like I think we'd have a shot at winning against someone like Viper…he's just too fucking strong for us right now. If we do this, we'll have to be covert about it and sneak him out without fighting."

"Ideally, I'd like to leave this with All Might, but…Izuku is…he's more than my friend, he's my brother. I couldn't save him at the camp, so I'm going to do whatever I can to get him back. Even if it just amounts to watching the Pros save him, I want to be there. I don't want to be sitting back and twiddling my thumbs. I can't stand being unable to do anything."

She frowned and considered his idea. Saving Izuku without combat…was it even possible? If they snuck him out of wherever the villains were keeping him, there was always the chance that the warp gate villain might catch them or Heat Viper would find out. If that happened…they'd be killed or taken hostage.

"If we see him," she said at last. "And we can't save him…will you be able to remain calm and rational?"

Katsuki turned to look at her and she knew immediately from the way his brow creased that there was no way he'd be able to remain calm.

"That's what I'll have you for."

Momo closed her eyes and sighed. Well…if he'd convinced her, she was going to go anyway to ensure that he wouldn't do anything drastic, which was a high possibility. They'd been talking like he would be bringing help anyways. Dammit.

"…I will agree to this on three, strict conditions," Momo held three fingers up and glared at him, putting all the authority she possessed into her voice and face. "One: I will be in charge of this covert operation. Two: We only go if we can make a team of at least five people of my choosing. Three: You will obey every single order I give and if you disobey me, I will knock you out with the biggest hammer I can make and abort the mission."

Katsuki's lips twitched up into a smile that was almost fond. "Yes, ma'am."

* * *

At the League of Villains' hideout, Kurogiri opened up a warp gate and through it came Hisashi. As seemed to be a quickly regular thing, Izuku immediately stopped what he was doing and spared the man an annoyed glare.

Hisashi's temper seemed a bit more relaxed today and he inclined his heard towards the gate. "Come on, Izuku."

The teenager huffed and got up, but didn't go to the gate. "Let me go grab my shoes."

"Don't take too long."

Izuku ignored him and stalked back to his room, almost throwing the door open to vent his frustration. He grabbed his shoes off the floor and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over to put them on.

He caught a glimpse of movement and glanced up as Himiko walked into the room. She wasn't smiling like she had been in the bar; he was still trying to figure out if that smile was for appearances or if she was actually that cheerful all the time.

"You probably shouldn't be back here," he told her. "He might get angry again."

"I trust you to protect me," she responded, surprising him. Himiko looked at him and he could see the clarity in her eyes.

Which side of her was the real Himiko, he wondered? The blood-obsessed killer or this…Who even was she when she was like this? How was he supposed to describe her? A normal girl? No way- she'd seen and done too much to be normal anymore.

"I wanna ask you something," She murmured. "It's been on my mind for a bit now. I'm not stupid, you know. I know you've been trying to get on my good side so you can get away."

She let those words sink in and Izuku wasn't really sure how to respond. He'd had a feeling she might've known- this…thing going on between them had pretty much come out of nowhere. It would've made sense on her part to think that something was suspicious about it.

"So…if you were planning on escaping, has everything you've said about wanting to save me just been an act? If you do get away, there's no way you'd be able to keep helping me like we talked about. Is the only reason you protected me from your dad because you wanted to save your escape route?"

Izuku looked down at the floor, frowning. It was…really difficult. There was no easy solution to what was going on. Himiko wanted her freedom, but she couldn't have it if she didn't remain outside the law and Izuku…he wanted to go back to being a hero, which meant he'd have to become her natural opposite once again. There didn't seem to be an immediate solution that ended with both of them being happy.

"Answer me," her voice shook.

"…I meant it," he said after a few more seconds. "I want to save you. I…I think if we can figure out how this compulsion of yours works, it might not be impossible to help you control it. But if I escape, you're right…it'd be almost impossible for me to help you if I'm with the heroes and you're with the villains."

"…I see."

"Even so, I don't want to give up. Because I think I'm the only one right now who can help you somehow. I want to save you. But Himiko do…do you want to be saved?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure what it would mean to be saved," she said. "Does it mean being trapped in a hospital or a prison? Staying on the run for the rest of my life and trying to keep myself from completely losing my mind? What else is there for me to do?"

Izuku could see the conflict on her face. She wanted to accept his help, but she didn't know what it would mean for her. She'd just done too much to ever have a normal life and they both knew it.

What was the solution?

He stood up and faced her, not really sure what else to say, but refusing to leave her in such uncertainty. "Maybe we can compromise for now."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll help you as much as I can until we can save you," he told her. "It might be hard, but I'm sure…there's a way that will help you."

"And if you go back to the heroes?"

"…I'll keep helping you."

Himiko's head fell forward. "You can't do that."

"I'll figure something out."

"Ever the selfless hero, aren't you?"

"Call it a personality flaw."

She snorted. "You're impossible."

"I've heard that before a few times," he admitted with a little smile.

Himiko was silent for a few seconds. She turned for the door, but shut it and locked it before turning back to Izuku. "I want something from you, though."

"What is it?"

"I…have this feeling that you'll be gone soon," she said, surprising him. "I'm not sure how to explain it. But I want something to remember you by when you're gone, okay?"

"Okay…"

Himiko's face flushed somewhat in embarrassment as she lifted a hand to touch the left side of her neck. "I…I want you to bite me here."

Izuku blinked. "Huh?"

"Don't go "huh"," she complained, cheeks reddening. "This is embarrassing enough without that dopey face you're making."

"B-but," he struggled to respond as he felt heat spreading over his face. "Why?"

"Well…I guess mostly as a reminder, but," she lifted her other hand and pointed at the left side of Izuku's neck. "That first bite I made will probably scar, so…I want one to match it. As a way for me to remember that you promised to save me."

She was nervously tapping the floor with her foot and averting her eyes from him. Izuku gulped and his gaze settled on her neck, which was still covered by her hand. "Will…will it help you?"

Himiko's teeth worried her bottom lip as she nodded. "Yes."

Izuku had to force his legs to move so he could take that last step to stand practically face-to-face with her. Himiko refused to look at him as she took her hand off her neck and instead gripped his shirt. He took a deep breath and lowered his head until his breath caressed the pale skin of her throat. She shivered. Her skin smelled like something sweet.

With trepidation, he opened his mouth and bit into her skin at the point where her neck met her shoulder. A little gasp escaped her and she was quick to slap her free hand over her mouth as he bit harder to break the skin. It was hard to hold this awkward position, bent over her as he was, so he weaved his arms around her back and pulled her closer. Her hand gripping his shirt rose to grab his hair almost painfully.

He tasted iron after a few seconds and forced himself to keep biting her until Himiko was sure the wound would scar over. She made to push him back and he let go, face very red and a drop of her blood at the corner of his mouth. He'd left a crescent-shaped bite mark in her skin, leaving the flesh around it bruised and dark.

Izuku wiped his mouth of her blood shakily. He'd never done anything like that before- it had been…nerve-wracking and almost exciting all at once. He wasn't really sure what to say now. This was such foreign territory to him. Himiko seemed to be at a loss, too. Her cheeks were flushed and her breath was a little fast.

She reached up to touch the bite and then looked at the crimson on her fingertips, which she brought up to her face to inhale the scent of blood to calm herself down. After a few moments of calm, slow breathing, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Thank you…"

He looked at the bite he'd left on her skin and swallowed hard. The promise he'd made to save her seemed more personal now, somehow…it shouldn't have, but he was too confused to wonder on it. And somehow, they both seemed to realize that this promise of theirs wasn't going to be resolved happily. The blood on Himiko's throat said as much.

But they'd made this promise and no matter how it ended, Izuku would do all he could to save her.

* * *

As they walked down the dark hall towards the training room from the day before, Hisashi glanced back at Izuku, who'd been quiet since they left the bar. His eyes fell on the healing bites on the boy's neck and narrowed somewhat.

"You shouldn't let yourself get attached," he said quietly. Izuku looked up at him and his eyes became irritated. "The lives of heroes and villains are often short. It's a fact of life."

"…That doesn't mean I shouldn't try to save someone if they need my help."

"Is that what you think you're doing?" Hisashi shook his head and moved to open the door, which they'd reached. "What do you think you can save in a girl like that? On what basis can you say she has any kind of future?"

"I don't know," he answered, but his voice became steely. "But even so, there has to be _something_ I can do for her."

"You're rather optimistic."

"I just don't think I should give up without trying. That's how I got into the Hero course at U.A in the first place."

Hisashi raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the matter further. He inclined his head to the inside of the room and Izuku walked in reluctantly. Inside were four Noumu- three of which were smaller and more simply designed than the fourth, which was larger, blue, and had a mouthpiece to keep its jaw from closing. That last of the four Noumu was the same one which had been sent to attack the training camp.

Izuku looked over his shoulder as Hisashi shut the door behind them. The elder of the two walked ahead of him, then turned to face the teenager.

"There's been a change of plans today," Hisashi began. "You'll still be fighting Noumu, but before that, we're going to figure out if you can use certain Quirks that were put into the original All Flare."

He frowned. All for One had told him that All Flare was comprised of several different Quirks, but he'd never actually told him exactly how many or what they all did individually.

"As of right now, you've demonstrated the basic abilities of All Flare- Immolate and Thermoshape- and Sun Forge, which is one of the more powerful Quirks. That being said, it doesn't seem like you can actually use Sun Forge without destroying your body."

Hisashi held up his hand, pointing his index finger up. In the air just above his finger, a small green sphere of intense, bright heat formed, almost blinding Izuku with its intensity so that he had to squint. "Sun Forge is normally used like this. Well, I'm not sure how it's mutated in you, but put simply, it forms a concentrated heat sphere not unlike a miniature star. It seems for you, it only activates when you "borrow" another fire Quirk, so the intensity of it may differ depending on the reserves of the person you borrow from. That Shoto boy has a pretty high capacity for his age and has more fire than most Pros, so that could be why it's been so dangerous for you to use thus far."

"Immolate is just what happens when you ignite your body and adjust the temperature," Hisashi went on. "And Thermoshape lets you manipulate fire into whatever form you so choose. Your Thermoshape seems to be more advanced than my own thanks to your mother's Quirk, since you can pull fire to you and control it better at a distance."

Izuku let the information soak in. He didn't like Hisashi, but he'd have to be stupid to ignore the information he was being given. "How many Quirks went into All Flare?"

Hisashi cocked his head to the side to think about it. "If you count the original Green Flare and All for One, there are roughly nine Quirks that make it up. Amongst them are the two I mentioned before, Immolate, Thermoshape, Sun Forge, Hyperblaze, Heat Blade, Hellbreath, and Pyroclasm. You probably won't be able to use Hellbreath if you haven't demonstrated it by now, but you may be able to use Hyperblaze and Heat Blade. The one we're looking for today, however, is Pyroclasm."

"What is it?"

"It'd be easier to show you. But ignite your body and brace yourself- it's not a gentle Quirk," Hisashi responded, turning and walking towards the center of the large room. He directed the four Noumu to the opposite end of the room, to which they obeyed quickly.

Izuku gulped and ignited his body as he was told. What kind of Quirk was this…Pyroclasm? It had to be fire, but…even Hisashi seemed careful to use it.

"Are you ready?" Hisashi called. Izuku nodded sharply and the man's body flared up in green flames that were slightly darker than his own. The fiery horns atop his head were much longer than Izuku's and the general control of the flames seemed to be greater- they didn't ripple as wildly and seemed more focused somehow.

He watched carefully as Hisashi's arms and hands especially blazed with incredible intensity until they glowed white. A heat haze formed around the man and after just a couple of seconds, he clapped his hands together.

Izuku yelped as a shock wave of pure heat and flame roared forth and blasted into him with enough force to knock him off his feet. Thankfully, he was close enough to the wall that it broke his fall and he didn't really get hurt and managed to regain his footing. The flames had pushed against his own, but didn't penetrate the barrier- just as they had when he fought Hisashi at the training camp.

Hisashi knelt down to the ground, his hands and arms still ablaze. "That's the lightest and easiest version. Depending on how much power you put into it and how you use it…"

He slapped one of his hands onto the floor and another shock wave roared along the ground this time, spreading in all directions and cracking the tile. Since the blast was more widely spread, it didn't blow Izuku away, but it was still an impressive force. "It's destructive effect varies. When I use it at its maximum output, the shock waves can blow apart buildings for almost a mile. It's similar to the destructive force a volcano has when it erupts and creates a pyroclastic flow."

"Pyroclasm is probably the most destructive out of all of All Flare's abilities, but using it at its highest output is taxing, even for me," Hisashi explained as he stood up and let the heat die down a bit. "Frankly, even this light version of it will probably give you trouble until you build up your heat resistance. Without a high temperature flame, all it really amounts to is a hot shock wave."

"That's an insane Quirk," Izuku said as he looked at his hands. _The destructive force of an erupting volcano?_

"Pyroclasm is the Quirk that lets me fight almost on par with All Might," Hisashi added, though somewhat bitterly. "I do wonder if he'd be able to withstand it now, though."

Feeling irritation go through him at the remark, Izuku glared at his hands and started to heat them up as much as he could. They blazed until the heat made him wince, and that was when he clapped his hands together in Hisashi's direction.

It wasn't even close to what Hisashi had generated, but as soon as he clapped his hands together, he felt something in his arms vibrate and he yelped as the shockwave he produced almost made him lose his balance. As it was, the burst barely reached Hisashi and all it really did was ruffle his hair.

Hisashi snorted. "Like I said, hot air."

Izuku wasn't ready to leave it at that. He decided to change things up and flipped on Overdrive. Plasma rippled along his arms, legs, and horns, and he charged it up again in his arms. Hisashi raised an eyebrow.

This time, there was a noticeable difference. Clapping his hands with Overdrive active, the Pyroclasm he generated was still barely able to match the weak one Hisashi had made, but it was definitely stronger. Izuku was thrown into the wall this time and the shock wave had Hisashi lifting an arm to ward it off as bolts of plasma shot through the air.

The man's lips curved up in a slight grin as the shock wave dissipated. "Still weak, but not bad."

Izuku regained his balance and let out a breath. His arms were already trembling from just two uses of the move. It seemed his body wasn't used to shock waves like that. It was a different kind of impact than the ones he experienced punching and kicking. It felt as though his bones were rattling and his muscles were jolted.

He was gonna have to work on this a lot to make it useful.

"That'll be enough of Pyroclasm for now," Hisashi told him. "Using it too often when your body isn't readily prepared for it leaves you brittle and easier to injure. Now you're sparring with me."

Izuku swallowed as Hisashi called the three Noumu with fire Quirks and had each of them use their abilities, which more or less amounted to them all lighting various parts of their bodies, primarily their arms and legs, on fire. Hisashi cracked his knuckles and grinned. "You can take as much fire as you want, but we won't stop until I say so. Show me what you've got, kid."

The teenager held his hands out towards the Noumu and called their fire to him, transmuting it into green flame quickly before he charged Hisashi with Overdrive still active. He dove around the man and spun back around, trying to hit him behind the head, but Hisashi spun with him so that when Izuku jumped, he was met by a kick in the gut.

It knocked the wind out of him, but he felt a surge of heat and then an blast of raw force sent him flying away from Hisashi. He hit the ground and rolled along the floor almost to the wall before he came to a stop and sat back up, trying to regain his breath.

Hisashi's leg, still alight with All Flare, grew darker as the temperature lowered and Izuku realized that he'd just hit him with a weak Pyroclasm. _He can use it like that?_

"I'm not going to aim to hurt you too badly, but I'm not going to let you have things easy, either," Hisashi snickered. "Well, my flames don't seem to hurt you much unless I pump the heat up, but that won't make much of a difference with the way you fight."

Izuku scowled and forced himself back to his feet to run at Hisashi again. The man suddenly sucked in a deep breath and yelled towards Izuku- unleashing a short jet of flame from his mouth. The teenager dove under the blast, which lasted little more than an instant, but the force that came with it almost tripped him up.

 _That must've been the Hellbreath Quirk he was talking about!_ Izuku thought as he swung a fist at Hisashi, who caught the blow with his hand and simply threw Izuku aside with a wild grin. Izuku managed to right himself in midair and skidded to a stop, his head flying back up to glare at Hisashi.

He noticed that Hisashi hadn't actually done a lot of moving from the place he started in. Izuku stood back up and started to prowl in a circle around the older man, trying to pick out any weaknesses.

 _He's not moving as actively as he was at the training camp,_ he realized. _Is he just messing with me, or is there a reason he's not rushing around as much?_

Hisashi seemed content to just turn with Izuku, smirking and observing the teenager in turn. Izuku's eyes narrowed. _Come to think of it…he knocked Pixie-Bob out last time with a punch, but his kick just now only knocked the wind out of me for a moment. It feels like he's a little slower, too._

Izuku started running again, speeding up as much as he could and closing the gap to Hisashi, who spat several fireballs at him in an attempt to slow him down. He feinted like he was going to aim for the man's face, then dove between his legs and came out behind him. Izuku immediately spun around and set his index finger against his thumb, charging up to 100%.

Hisashi's head spun towards Izuku and his eyes widened when he saw the bolts of plasma arcing from the teenager's finger. But instead of dodging like Izuku thought he would, he lifted his arms to block and braced himself.

Only Izuku let the power die and didn't take the shot- instead, he kicked off the floor and leapt away from Hisashi. He put some distance between them and clenched his fist. _I was right! He's slower!_

Hisashi's eyes narrowed in annoyance. _Dammit, he baited me to see how I'd react to a 100% shot! He must've thought something was off because of the Pyroclasm I made when I kicked him. You're too smart for your own good, Izuku._

Izuku started pacing again as he studied the man warily. _I'm not sure why, but he's slower than he was at the training camp and his physical strength is weaker than before. Though even if he's slower…he's still as fast as Stain was back in Hosu City. But his Quirk is way stronger than Stain's was. Gotta figure out if it's affected his durability. It won't matter how much slower he is if he can still take a 100% punch and shrug it off like he did before._

 _His analysis skills are sharp for his age and he's good at forcing others on the defensive with the risk of that 100% shot he has,_ Hisashi thought, gathering a large amount of fire around his right arm. _He's got a pretty good eye for observation, too. Unless he uses 100% and injures himself, his firepower isn't actually all that high right now, but he's quick on his feet and agile. U.A haven't been coddling him, I see. Moreover…_

The steady glare Izuku was giving Hisashi made the older man somewhat annoyed. _All Might…He's got the same damn look in his eyes that you do. You've really rubbed off on my son more than I would ever have liked, you son of a bitch._

Hisashi transformed the mass of fire in his right hand into a long, whip-like structure and snapped it in Izuku's direction, but the teen was quick to dive under it and rush Hisashi again. Hisashi clenched his fist and met Izuku's punch with his own, although even with Overdrive, they were almost evenly matched.

The older man was still definitely the stronger of the two, but he had to force himself not to snarl- the difference in physical strength was a lot closer than he was happy with. _My enhancements might be running low, but even so, I can't believe how much my body's condition has deteriorated while I was in prison. It's humiliating!_

Izuku swung another punch as fast as he could and this time, Hisashi lifted an arm to block it. The impact wasn't much- even if his strength was a lot lower than it had been in his prime, his body was still pretty durable on its own. Before Izuku could do anything else, Hisashi opened his mouth and roared, unleashing a blast of flame that launched the teenager away from him.

He hit the ground again and rolled, but Izuku recovered once more and rose back up. _His Quirk is still stronger than mine, but I'm not sure by how much. If it matches the way his body is reacting now…no. That's not right. He was definitely holding back earlier with that Pyroclasm he used when he kicked me. He's just using his Quirk to toss me around since the fire itself won't hurt me too much. But if that's the case, then as long as he stays this way, maybe I can figure out how to defeat him!_

Hisashi took a breath and let it out to relieve some of his annoyance. The expression on his face turned into a slight smirk once more. _My body might not be in great shape right now, Izuku, but…seeing the gears turning in your head almost makes me feel a little better. You don't know how lucky you are that your All Flare more or less negates mine. You might even think after that last exchange that there could be a way for you to beat me._

His lips parted to expose his teeth in a smug grin. _You have no idea what you're facing right now, do you? I might have to show you just to amuse myself a bit._

* * *

 **A/N: Just a little build-up for you guys. Next chapter...shit hits the fan. Brace yourselves, we're gonna go plus ultra!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	28. The Raid

_Chapter Twenty Eight: The Raid_

The room was dark and its atmosphere dreary. The clock on a desk by her bed said it was only early afternoon, but she didn't really want to get up. She didn't feel like doing much of anything, actually.

Ochako lay in her bed on her side, silent and tired. She hadn't been sleeping well ever since the training camp disaster. When…when Izuku was taken from them.

She hadn't been able to do anything. From the very moment the villains attacked, she was relying on Izuku. He'd been the one who took out Dabi's clone and defeated Muscular. All she'd done was stay on the sidelines with Kota and then throw Izuku back into the fight. When Viper arrived, she'd been powerless. She couldn't fight him, even as he took Izuku and just walked away with him.

In her heart, Ochako knew that realistically…there was nothing she could've done. Viper would've beaten her even more easily than he had Katsuki and the others. She didn't have the range or power to really damage a villain like him. If she'd tried to stop him, chances are he would've just blown her away or killed her.

If anything, the knowledge that she'd had no chance of saving Izuku from being taken made things worse.

Her parents had come to see her at the hospital. They were worried sick, but relieved that Ochako hadn't been hurt. Well, not physically, anyways. It was obvious their daughter wasn't in a good emotional state at all. They comforted her as best they could, and Ochako was grateful for that.

But it still didn't change the fact that Izuku was gone. Her _best friend_ and…

She moved her hand up to look at her fingers, recalling how it felt to playfully lace them with Izuku's when they were messing around the night before the attack. His skin had been warm and a little rough wherever a scar marred it. Their little game had made her excited and giddy in a different kind of way to what she normally felt.

 _Do you like him?_

Ochako leaned her head further into her pillow and sighed. Did she? Did she like Izuku in a…romantic sense? She wasn't sure- this was all new to her, but…maybe. At least, she liked him in a way that was different from her other friends. She didn't think she'd go so far as to say it was love. No, that was too big of a word for what she felt. Admiration and affection, maybe?

Maybe it wasn't even that big of a deal, this…thing she had for him. When Ochako thought of it, she wasn't sure if she wanted to like…date him or something. She just liked him and their fun, goofy way of interacting. Thinking on it, they'd barely known each other for more than three months. Even then, though…he was still a little different from the rest of her friends. He was special to her, somehow.

She liked talking to him, and how he was sweet and helpful. She found it funny and cute that he was such a dork and a fanboy about heroes. She thought he was really smart and clever. She liked his freckles and his fluffy hair and his eyes.

She closed her eyes and mentally held up the white flag. Okay, she was…she was crushing on him. Izuku Midoriya was her first big crush. Admitting that to herself took a little weight off her chest, but not much.

It wasn't like her affection mattered since he was being held captive by the League of Villains.

Her phone started buzzing on the desk beside her bed and Ochako debated whether or not to answer it for several moments before sighing and reaching over to grab it. She blinked at the name on the screen. It was Momo.

She let the phone vibrate for a few more seconds before deciding to answer. "Hello?"

Ochako had to wince. Her voice sounded hoarse to her and she could only imagine what Momo thought when she heard that.

"Ochako?" Momo asked, her voice soft. "How are you?"

"I'm…" she went quiet for a second. "Dealing with everything, I guess. Mostly I'm just tired. What about you?"

"The doctors cleared me today. I'm going to be leaving the hospital later."

"I see. I'm glad to hear that."

The conversation stopped for several seconds. Momo seemed to be debating something, but she finally broke the silence. "Ochako…I called to ask if you want to help us find and rescue Izuku."

Ochako froze. She responded hesitantly. "What do you mean?"

"I managed to place a tracking beacon on one of the villains before they escaped the training camp," Momo explained. "I gave one of the locators to All Might and the police, but Katsuki and I want to try and get Izuku away from the villains in secret. If nothing else, we want to make sure he's okay."

Ochako didn't know what to say. She just tried to process the information while Momo waited patiently. Eventually, the girl on the other line spoke again. "Katsuki was frustrated and upset about Izuku being taken. You feel the same way, right? You're closer to him than anyone in the class besides Katsuki."

"…is it even possible for us to do anything?"

"I don't know," Momo admitted. "But…if there's even the slightest chance, I…I think we have a duty to try and help him somehow. We'll be careful about it and there's not going to be any fighting- that's one of the conditions I'm laying down if we go through with this plan. Even if all we do is see him, at least we'll know he's okay."

Ochako fell silent again and Momo finished the call. "I have to go- I'm due for a checkup any minute now. We're going to meet outside the hospital tonight at seven-thirty. If you want to come, we'll be there."

She hung up then and Ochako let her phone fall onto the sheets beside her head. She stared at the device for a few minutes and really thought hard about it. This would be dangerous. Probably illegal, too. Not to mention…would she be able to bear it if they were only able to see Izuku and not reach him? Just as she'd had to watch him be taken in the first place?

She looked at the time on her phone. She had about three hours to think about it.

* * *

Izuku woke up with a gasp, his body jolting into consciousness. He started coughing as he sat up quickly and immediately regretted the motion, as his head spun and pain flared over his body. He jumped when a hand touched his shoulder and snatched it by the wrist, whipping his gaze towards the owner.

"Well, you're doing fine, I guess," Himiko muttered as she pulled her arm away from his grip. He tried to mutter an apology, but his throat felt dry and painful, and all that came out was another cough. The girl sighed and offered him a water bottle, which he took gratefully.

After drinking almost half of the bottle, he looked at her again. "What happened?"

"I dunno," she shrugged, stepping away from his bed as he turned to swing his legs over the side of the bed. "When Viper brought you back, you were out cold. You're still kinda burnt and bruised up."

Izuku looked himself over and winced. Just as she said, his arms had minor burns all over and from how his tender his back felt, he guessed that Hisashi had put a definitive end to their spar at some point. What had…

All he really remembered was trying to close in on Hisashi and then being slammed by a really powerful attack. He'd hit the ground so hard, he must've been knocked out in an instant.

He went to stand up and instantly groaned. "Oww…"

Himiko snorted, smirking a bit. "He beat you up pretty good, huh?"

"Thanks for the support," he retorted sarcastically, forcing himself to stand and stretch his arms over his head. He heard several pops along his spine and in his shoulders that both hurt and felt great all at once. "Damn, damn, damn…"

"You want to get something to eat? Kurogiri probably just finished cooking."

"Yeah, that sounds fine," Izuku admitted. Himiko lifted her hand to teasingly pat his cheek, then turned and led him out of the room.

The bar was a little more active than normal since everyone was eating and Izuku noticed with some annoyance that Hisashi was still around, indulging in Kurogiri's cooking. As he followed Himiko into the room, Magne looked up at them and laughed.

"Sleeping beauty woke up, eh?"

Izuku half-growled at Magne, who only snickered with the majority of the other villains. There were only a couple of seats open at the bar, one beside Hisashi and another next to that one, but Himiko got there first and took the seat furthest from the older villain. So reluctantly, Izuku was left with the seat between Himiko and Hisashi as Kurogiri set plates of food in front of them. Hisashi didn't say anything and continued to eat, though he seemed a little more satisfied with himself than he normally did. Izuku felt an incessant urge to punch the smug look off his face.

As he sat down, the teenager winced, his spine protesting the movement painfully. He reached over his shoulder to massage the muscle and bone beneath his neck. Tomura was chuckling at his obvious discomfort, much to Izuku's irritation. Behind them along the wall, Twice, who was lying on his side while he ate, decided to comment. "Damn, Viper messed you up! Must feel great!"

"Not the first word I'd choose," Izuku groaned and winced as he pressed on another tender spot. "How the hell are you only number three?"

Hisashi gave him a sideways glance while he chewed on his food and waited to swallow before he grunted a reply. "I don't know what you're complaining about, I went easy on you. The others wouldn't have been as lenient."

"I don't even know what you hit me with at the end."

"I only knocked you out. Be grateful."

"Gee, _thanks._ If the other Chimeras are as… _generous_ as you, I can't wait to meet them."

Tomura snorted at that. Hisashi didn't respond outright, though his voice became slightly annoyed. "They'd be more useful if they were trying to help kill All Might, but instead they seem to enjoy spending time on their own personal endeavors. Well, most of them, anyway. I don't know what that damn woman is up to at all these days. She's too skilled at hiding for her own good."

He huffed and took a drink, apparently irritated by the thought of this elusive female Chimera.

Izuku glanced at Hisashi and wondered how much more information he could get out of him. If he kept things casual and didn't ask anything directly, then maybe…?

He thought about how best to approach it for a few minutes as he ate and then finally asked another question. "Can't imagine you'd be better at hiding than whoever this lady is."

Hisashi shot him a dry look. Yeah, he had a feeling Izuku would try to get something else about the Chimeras from him in a roundabout kind of way. "I can't imagine you'd ever find out."

Irritation bubbled up inside the teenager. Hisashi had already caught him, dammit. He averted his gaze and continued eating, much to the older man's amusement.

"What is it with you and killing All Might, anyway?" Izuku muttered, feeling the need to get even with Hisashi for spoiling his chance at getting more information. As he expected, Hisashi's forehead creased with annoyance. "Are you just pissed that he beat you?"

Hisashi's eyes became cold as he turned his head to glare at Izuku. On the teenager's other side, Himiko stopped mid-chew and watched the man warily. The other villains in the room paused and observed the interaction as Hisashi's temper visibly worsened and the air grew tense.

"…did All Might tell you he and I knew each other when we were younger?"

"Yeah, he did," Izuku replied, watching Hisashi's face carefully. "He said you guys were rivals or something like that. And that you met my mom at the Sports Festival when you were first years at U.A."

That was a bit of a bombshell for several of the villains in the room, though Kurogiri and Tomura didn't look surprised. Hisashi's face twisted into a sneer. "Is that all he said?"

"He said you guys all grew apart for a while after school, but not much else," Izuku said, meeting his sneer with a steady scowl. "Seeing where you are now, I don't really wonder why."

Hisashi snarled, eyes smoldering as he glared at Izuku. "I suppose he never mentioned that he was the one who set a trap for me the day I fought him, did he?"

He hadn't, but that information didn't change anything. "You were a criminal. Still are."

"That so? Even though I offered to give him information about All for One in exchange for your mother's protection?"

That caught Izuku off-guard. "What?"

"You heard me. I was going to defect for your mother's safety and I said as much to All Might," Hisashi growled bitterly. "But I guess he just couldn't stand seeing his ex-lover with his former friend. He set me up and I retaliated accordingly."

 _Lover?_ As in…his _mother? Inko?_

The closeness All Might and his mother shared suddenly made sense. The way they interacted, how his mother knew about All Might's secret true form…the natural kind of comfort they had with one another. It was different from the kind of closeness he had with his friends…like…like they understood one another on a much more personal level…

It shocked him, but Izuku took the information with a pinch of salt- Hisashi wasn't exactly a source of wisdom he really trusted, for obvious reasons. He forced his roiling thoughts aside and managed to put some strength back into his eyes and voice. "Even if that were the case, you didn't have to kill all those people. You didn't have to destroy the city. That was you and _nothing_ you're telling me justifies that."

 _"Really?_ _You're_ telling _me_ that after all those things you said about doing something to check her psychopathic tendencies? What difference is there between us? Where's _my_ so-called chance at redemption?"

His glare flicked to Himiko, who stiffened under his gaze. Izuku's scowl returned. "You burned it to the ground."

There was a hand squeezing his throat in an instant and Izuku winced as his breath was forced out of him. He glared at Hisashi, who only looked to be growing more infuriated with every second. It took him a minute to get his temper back under control and until then, the room was alight with nerves.

After a few tense seconds, his grip loosened, but he didn't let go completely. Izuku managed to take a breath of air and hissed at the man. "After everything you've done, you don't want help…That's the difference between you two."

"No," he growled back. "The difference is I know what I want."

He let Izuku go then and cast a glance at Kurogiri. "Send me back. I've had enough of this for one day."

Kurogiri complied and Izuku just scowled at Hisashi until the man was gone.

"Asshole," Izuku muttered, lifting a hand to massage his throat. But even then…he wondered if there was any truth to what Hisashi had said about his mother and All Might. Izuku seriously doubted All Might would betray Hisashi out of jealousy, but…it would explain why Hisashi was so bitter and determined to see All Might dead.

There was more to the story. There had to be. And he just knew it was going to drive him crazy thinking about it until he got answers.

* * *

Katsuki glanced at his phone to check the time and frowned slightly. They'd have to leave soon.

He and Momo were standing outside the hospital, waiting for the other members of their class whom they'd asked to take part in their secret operation. Tenya had had some pretty harsh words for them, so Momo wasn't sure he'd come, but…if they were going to do this, all five members of the party had to come along.

They weren't outside for long before two of their chosen members arrived- Shoto and Tenya, the latter of which surprised Katsuki. He'd almost gotten into a fight with the other teenager over this until Momo more or less ordered them both to cool their jets.

Momo looked at them steadily. "What are your answers?"

"I'll come," Shoto agreed quietly. Katsuki didn't have it in him to complain about the other boy's addition to the group- if things went to shit, they'd need his firepower to escape.

Tenya fixed his glasses, shifting about nervously. "I'm only coming along to ensure that you don't do anything foolish. If I catch even a hint of violence, I'll pull you all away."

"Of course," Katsuki muttered, averting his gaze. "That was the plan from the start."

They were all edgy and shifty, nervously eyeing each passerby as though someone might discover their plan and stop them. It was a nerve-wracking three minutes, but finally their attention was drawn to the last member of their squad as she walked down the street towards them.

Katsuki studied her slumped posture and popped the inevitable question. "You gonna come?"

Ochako nodded, her eyes still a little dull. She'd been powerless to save Izuku before and doubted that they could really do anything on this secret mission of theirs, but even so…she wanted to come along. "If there's a chance we can get Deku back, I want to help…I want to save him…"

Momo dipped her head and pulled out the tracking device out of her jacket now that they'd all agreed. "It seems that the homing beacon is originating from the Kamino Ward of Yokohama City, in the Kanagawa prefecture. We'll have to board a train and it should take us about two hours to get there…we'll probably arrive at ten pm."

Katsuki grunted and started walking for the nearest station fifteen minutes away, lightly clapping his hand on Ochako's shoulder on the way. "We couldn't reach him last time. Let's go get him back."

Ochako nodded and walked after him. The rest of the group followed suit, all of them tense and paranoid about the secret trip ahead of them. It felt like a wave was building up, slowly growing to such size and power that none of them would be able to stop it when it finally came crashing down. They all kind of sensed that something huge was about to happen, though they didn't have the words to acknowledge it to one another…but even knowing that, they didn't stop.

Perhaps they should have, but they didn't.

* * *

"Well then, Izuku…"

The teenager looked down the bar towards Tomura, who took the remote and turned the tv on as he started flitting through the channels. "I've kinda put this off for a few days since Teacher and your dad wanted to spend all that time with you, but now is as good as any to officially ask you to join the League of Villains."

Izuku responded with the most sarcastic tone he could manage. _"Really?"_

"Don't be a smartass, just take a minute to think about it," Tomura slouched against the bar and gestured to the tv. "Why don't you mull it over while we watch a special little something?"

All eyes trailed to the television and Izuku blinked curiously. It was a press conference with U.A regarding the attack on the training camp. The media were really firing every shot they could at the school, almost as though the heroes in charge were criminals. Izuku found it unnerving how eager the news was to attack U.A with all they had, but he also had a feeling that wasn't why Tomura was showing them this.

His hunch was right.

One of the reporters, a middle aged man specifically, seemed to be throwing all the big punches in the form of damning questions and suggestions. He probably knew that Mr. Aizawa, who was with Vlad King and Principal Nezu, had a reputation for disliking the media and was trying to rile him up.

 _"Mr. Eraser Head, you speak of the students' safety, but the reports say that during the incident, you urged the students to fight, did you not?"_ The reporter asked. _"Please explain your intentions regarding that decision."_

Aizawa, in a suit and tie with his hair combed back, not at all like the scruffy teacher Izuku was used to, replied in the same, calm manner he always did. _"Because we were unable to fully grasp the situation, I made the call in order to avoid the worst possible scenario."_

 _"The worst possible outcome? More than twenty students injured and one kidnapped…Could you enlighten us of this "worst possible scenario" you imagined?"_

 _"Of course,"_ Aizawa responded. _"The worst possible scenario, in my mind, was one in which the students became murder victims."_

Nezu interjected. _"The majority of the injuries were caused by the gas attack, which we've ascertained possessed hypnotic properties and was created by a villain. Thanks to the swift actions of out students, that particular villain was stopped and prevented any further injuries. We are also seeing to the mental care of the students, but at the present moment, we have no indications of severe emotional trauma or other such things."_

 _"And what of the kidnapped student, Izuku Midoriya?"_ The reporter queried.

There it was.

 _"He was targeted by the villains for obvious reasons,"_ the man continued. _"The son of the escaped super villain Heat Viper and one of the top sixteen from the Sports Festival. He displayed a willingness to use excessive force back then and was overwhelmed by his own power, but during this latest incident, the reports say he was responsible for actually killing one of the villains, Muscular. The picture he's given us so far is of a boy with power who is unafraid to use it as he so chooses. His behavior is rather similar to that of his father, would you not agree? One could even argue that his so-called "kidnapping" was merely Heat Viper reclaiming his child- and it would be awfully easy for him to simply lead Izuku down the same path as him. With all this, please tell us on what basis you can say he has a future."_

Izuku felt a kind of rage and despair in his stomach. He knew that he wasn't popular with the media or most of the public, but even so…that stung. He was always uneasy about how the public received him, but the rage came from them assuming he was just like his father and would follow him like some damned loyal pet.

He felt Himiko elbow him and realized his fingers were digging into the wood of the bar and leaving burns. Izuku immediately dropped the temperature and he did his best to ignore Tomura's quiet laughter.

 _"What occurred at the camp was the result of my own shortcomings."_

Aizawa had stood up and bowed in front of the crowd of reports. He lifted his head however, and stared at the reporter who had put all the fire on Izuku with a steady look that barely seemed to hold back a full-on glare. _"But I speak for every single member of the staff and Izuku's immediate family that Heat Viper does not, and will_ ** _never_** _have legal custody of him. In regards to what happened with Muscular, I would add that the villain in question was responsible for multiple first-degree murders, including the Pro hero team Water Horse, and attempted to kill a five year-old child at the campsite. He was a powerful enemy that most Pros would have difficulty dealing with, much less students. Izuku may have had no choice at the time but to respond with deadly force and he also severely injured himself in the process. If that was what it took to protect the civilian boy, I can say with a clear conscience that I do not regret the decision he made."_

 _"And his connection to Heat Viper? What are your thoughts on him following in his father's footsteps down the path of a villain?"_

 _"Speaking frankly, those accusations are completely absurd,"_ Aizawa replied flatly. _"Izuku does not view his parentage to Viper as a good thing. When we were testing the Quirks of the students for the first time, he was reluctant and afraid to use it at all for fear of being ostracized. He was only able to use it fully during the Sports Fesitval. Evidently, his concerns were not unfounded because there appears to be a number of people who are incapable of seeing the difference between a child and a parent. If the villains assumed he would join them simply because of his parentage…then Heat Viper's involvement regardless, I would call them fools."_

Izuku felt his lips curve up slightly. Mr. Aizawa was more than ready to defend him from those people. It felt good knowing he had teachers who wouldn't hesitate to shut down any of the unfair accusations against him.

 _"Do you have a concrete plan for the matter?"_ The reporter asked, unabashed by the strong words. _"This is not a question of your feelings. What actions are you taking from this point on?"_

 _"By no means are we standing by and doing nothing,"_ Nezu replied. _"We are currently carrying out an investigation in collaboration with the police. We will get our student back, make no mistake."_

Izuku tilted his head in Tomura's direction as the villain switched the tv off, looking irritated, but not angry. "You heard him."

"You don't really get a choice, you know," Tomura retorted, standing up to approach Izuku at his seat. "I'm offering you the chance to join us peacefully so you don't have to get dragged to Teacher's place every day and get beat half to death. Joining us wouldn't be so bad, would it? You wouldn't have to deal with those people who hate you all the time, you can just get rid of them as you please."

"I don't really have a thing for killing people," Izuku snapped back.

"No? Then what about Himiko? You two have gotten pretty chummy the last few days, don't deny it. If you join us, you can keep helping her, or whatever it is your dad talked about earlier."

That made him hesitate and he glanced at the girl, who didn't seem to know how to respond and was twirling her knife in her hands to keep herself occupied. If he was honest…Himiko was the only reason he even considered what Tomura was saying. He had no interest in being a villain, but…she wanted- _needed-_ his help. He'd promised he'd help her. At the same time, he needed to get away from here, but Himiko couldn't go with him without losing her freedom and he knew she didn't want that.

He was stuck in a stalemate and it frustrated him so much.

Tomura let Izuku take his time thinking about it, able to recognize the conflict on the boy's face. He'd been debating for the last couple of days whether or not to do something about Himiko for getting too close to his "trump card" but she was turning out to be more valuable to the League than he'd initially thought she'd be. Her presence and the closeness she'd formed with Izuku alone had made a connection he couldn't easily break. And he knew that she would stay with the League to keep her freedom.

He was chained to the League and Himiko was the key to his shackles.

* * *

Momo stopped in her tracks and looked up at the building they'd arrived at. After taking the train ride to Kamino, the group of students had snuck through the city as unsuspectingly as they could, following the tracking device to the location of the transmitter. It was nighttime now and everything was dark save the dim street lamps. The area where they arrived was a quieter section of town with only a few people, which was both a good thing and nerve-wracking at the same time.

It really felt like they were behind enemy lines and deep in their territory now.

The building in question was a worn-down looking warehouse, large and seemingly out of use. From what little she could see through the windows, it seemed like the inside was dark and empty.

"This is it," she told the others quietly.

Katsuki studied the building in question and raised an eyebrow. "Sure looks like a dump."

"They'd want to hide somewhere inconspicuous, so it makes sense they'd choose a place like this," Shoto pointed out. "The question is what do we do now that we're here?"

"Some of those windows higher up are broken," Ochako told them as she spotted an opening about twenty feet up. "If Momo makes a rope, I can float them up there to take a better look."

Tenya shook his head. "No, it's too risky. At that height, whoever goes up there will be visible for the entire street and someone might think we're trying to break into the building. And if one of the villains sees them floating outside…"

"What do you think?" Katsuki asked Momo. She pursed her lips and frowned at the tracking device.

"From what I can tell, the villains haven't moved from here the whole day," she replied. "They're definitely here, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Izuku is as well. We need more information."

"This would've been a lot easier if we brought Toru," Shoto remarked.

Momo shook her head. "I would never send Toru in there with as little information as we have. Invisible or not, it's just not worth the risk. No…we should try and find a way around the back. We'll stand out too much just standing around the front of the building like this."

They found a narrow alley between the target building and one of its neighboring constructs and slipped through. It was a tight fit, but they made it work and stopped about halfway after spotting a large window close enough to give them a good look inside. The concrete wall was too high for any of them to look over it individually, but it would be possible to take a look if they gave each other a boost.

"I'll make Shoto float," Ochako said once they decided to try and take a look from their position. "Tenya can hold onto his ankles and he can look inside from there."

"It's pretty dark. Will you even be able to see anything?" Tenya asked Shoto, who wasn't certain about the question.

"Here," Momo held her hand out and concentrated, producing a simple night vision scope for one eye. "That should help you."

Ochako made Shoto float and with care, they got him up on Tenya's shoulders after Momo gave him the night vision scope. Once Shoto had righted himself and held onto the concrete wall with his free hand to keep his balance, he brought the scope up and peered through the window.

"Anything?" Katsuki asked somewhat impatiently while keeping his voice down.

"…there's not much to see," Shoto responded. "It's pretty messy in there. There's a lot of mechanical equipment and broken crates, some barrels…I can see a generator that seems to be online and some pipes…Wait."

He focused for a few moments and zoomed in with the scope as far as it could go, leaning forward slightly. "Yeah. There are some of those Noumu things from USJ and Hosu inside. They're not moving…it looks like they're dormant or something."

"So they _are_ here," Tenya muttered tensely.

"How many, Shoto?" Momo queried.

"Give me a second," he licked his lips and slowly scanned the inside of the warehouse, specifically looking at a number of large containers filled with liquid. Within each one was a Noumu. "Four, six, eight- wait, that's Ragdoll!"

"What?!" Ochako exclaimed.

"Are you sure?" Momo demanded.

"That's definitely Ragdoll," Shoto focused on the container holding the woman. He couldn't see much since the glass was dirty, but he could tell that she wasn't moving and seemed to be unconscious.

"How is she?" Tenya asked. "What's her condition?"

"…" Shoto bit his lip as he studied what little he could see of Ragdoll, trying to think of a way to respond. "…I'm not sure. She doesn't look hurt, but she's not moving. She's being kept in one of the containers with the Noumus."

They pulled Shoto down from Tenya's shoulders and Ochako released her Quirk as she looked at Momo. "What should we do? We can't leave Ragdoll here."

"I'm tempted to agree," Shoto nodded. "She was in one of those containers, so…I wonder if they're trying to turn her into one of those Noumu."

"We can't just break in," Tenya interjected. "Each of those Noumu things has different abilities and there's more of them than us. We have no idea what we're getting ourselves into and we aren't allowed to fight. What if they wake up as soon as we enter and attack?"

"But Ragdoll might not have much time left!" Ochako protested.

They were quiet for nearly a minute as they contemplated the situation. Katsuki was rapping his knuckles against the concrete and finally cast a glance at the building, or what he could see of it peeking over the wall. "We don't even know if Ragdoll is alive. Those Noumu things are brain-dead, so if they're making her into one of them…"

"She looked normal," Shoto reminded him, hesitating. "But…we have no idea what kind of state she's in. If we break in there and alert the Noumus only for her to be beyond saving, we'll just be giving the villains a chance to capture or kill us."

"…" Katsuki continued to stare at the building for a few more moments. "I think we should back off here."

Momo looked at him in surprise. He was the last person she'd been expecting to call the mission quits. "Why?"

"This has been bothering me for a while," he said, lowering his voice. "Out of all these League of Villains guys we've fought the last few months, not a single one of them had a Quirk that could turn someone into those weird-ass Noumus. If you think about it, even their self-proclaimed leader, that fucker with all the hands, has a Quirk that lets him disintegrate whatever he touches. These Noumu things pop up at their beck-and-call, but who the hell is making them in the first place?"

He let that sink in for a few moments and went on. "It might be nothing, but…That hand guy, Shigaraki or whatever the fuck he's called…Don't you think it's kind of weird for someone like him to be able to manage all this stuff on his own?"

"What do you mean?" Ochako asked with a frown. She hadn't ever actually met Tomura before, so she didn't understand. Tenya seemed to be a bit confused as well.

"When I saw him at USJ, he acted like a bratty rich kid showing off that Noumu like it was something he got from his dad. And he threw a fit when Izuku defeated it," Katsuki muttered, glancing from Momo to Shoto. The other boy was deep in thought and Katsuki didn't even shoot an insult at him. "You guys saw him, too. What do you think?"

"…it's a good point," Shoto replied, looking at Momo. The girl was taking Katsuki's wariness (and if _that_ didn't say something about Katsuki's concerns, he didn't know what would) seriously and really considering it. "At Hosu and even at the training camp, when I think about it, Shigaraki didn't actually show up. If he's their leader, he's being awfully careless about the way he's throwing his forces around, isn't he? I can't imagine an organization who follows a leader like that growing large or lasting for long. Even more unusual is why a big shot villain like Heat Viper would join such a group."

Ochako exchanged a glance with Tenya, who shook his head. They didn't see what the other three were getting at. "I don't understand. Where are you guys going with this?"

"…you think there's someone running the League behind the scenes," Momo concluded as she turned to Katsuki. Tenya's eyes widened and Ochako froze.

"It's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense," he answered with a slight nod. He looked noticeably tense and his fingers clenched now and again, like he was wary of a fight. "There's no way a guy like Shigaraki was able to get all these resources and recruit Heat Viper on his own…The way he behaved at USJ, all these Noumu things, Viper joining the League…No, someone with damn big influence is keeping this shit together. And since whoever it is hasn't shown himself, I'd put money on him being smart enough to stash the Noumus here and hide the League somewhere else."

He paused for a moment and almost growled. "I don't think Deku is here. But the fucker running the League behind the scenes…he might be."

Tenya swallowed and a bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face. "If there really is someone like that…someone that even Heat Viper would follow…"

"He wouldn't be any ordinary villain," Shoto finished, glancing up at the building warily. "It's still just a hypothesis without any concrete evidence, but I'll admit that I don't like how much it seems to fit."

"So what, we just…we leave Ragdoll here?" Ochako asked in disbelief.

"Use your head," Katsuki told her bluntly, but not rudely. "This guy running the League would have to be someone as powerful as All Might to keep Viper in line. We can't fight that, even between the five of us."

"You don't even know if he exists!"

"Do we wanna chance running into Viper, though?"

Ochako hesitated and bit her lip. He had a point and she knew it. It would be different if they knew exactly where Viper was, but…

At that moment, the back of the warehouse exploded.

* * *

Izuku looked back up at Tomura, who was still staring at him and waiting for an answer. He really didn't have a solution for his immediate problem with Himiko, but he also had no intention of doing what the League wanted.

"I'm not joining you," he declared simply. "No way."

"I see," Tomura didn't seem overly bothered by the response and merely shrugged. "Ah, well. It's just the first time I'll ask you, after all. We'll see if you change your mind after Teacher works you another dozen times."

Someone suddenly knocked on the door. They heard a voice on the other side. "Pizza delivery!"

Everyone in the room stared at the door dubiously for a second, and then the wall opposite the counter exploded.

 _"SMASH!"_

The blast of wind and debris sent Compress, Magne, Twice, and Spinner sprawling over the floor. Tomura, Kurogiri, and Dabi spun towards the source of the attack with shock, but even they weren't able to respond fast enough as thin tendrils of fibers shot into the room and suddenly, the clothes they wore were pinning them in place. Izuku yelped as his own clothes entrapped him as well, but released after a moment.

"What the-?!" Dabi snarled in surprise and began to emit blue flames. "You think you can hold-"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid!"

A blur of movement shot into the room and delivered a powerful kick to Dabi's head, knocking him unconscious in an instant. Gran Torino backed off and landed on the floor as the man who had first charged in stood up with a large grin on his face.

"Infiltration complete!" All Might declared. "As expected of the number four hero Best Jeanist and the veteran Gran Torino! You aren't getting away from us this time, League of Villains, because we are here!"

Jeanist looked over at Izuku as he retracted the fibers that he'd launched at him. "My apologies, young man. I threaded everyone in an instant to prevent Viper from retaliating. Couldn't risk it."

"I-I-It's fine!" Izuku managed shakily, still shocked by the sudden entrance.

Compress couldn't believe his eyes. "They found us?! Then the press conference…the timing was planned!"

"Oww, pants guy!" Twice complained. "You're squeezing too tight! More pressure!"

"This time around, we won't be so careless," the voice which had first got their attention at the door said as he slashed through the lock and opened the door, leading a squad of riot police. It was the rank five hero, Edgeshot. "It's not just us. We've got other skilled heroes outside as well with the police."

Himiko winced as she struggled against the restraints. "Owowow…"

Izuku glanced at her and almost reached up to try and help, but he stopped himself. There wouldn't any escape for her and he couldn't justify freeing her, no matter her wishes. She looked up at him and he could tell she'd realized the same thing, and she was starting to panic. Her eyes started to lose the clarity he'd associated with her when she was behaving normally and grew hazy. His stomach lurched. How long would it take until she snapped and became psychopathic?

He jumped as he felt a pair of powerful arms wrap around him and then All Might was hugging him firmly. "Thank goodness, you're alright."

All Might knelt in front of Izuku and looked him over. "Are you hurt?"

"I…" Izuku swallowed and looked down at the floor. He was feeling choked up with relief and happiness that All Might had come to save him. "I'm f-fine…"

"You did well lasting this long. I'm sorry you had to go through this," All Might stood up, squeezing his shoulder one more time. "We'll talk later. For now, I still have a job to do."

Tomura seemed to have come to his senses and glared at All Might. "Hey…why the hell did the last boss come and hunt us down? It's usually the other way around, isn't it?"

"Did you expect us to sit by idly after you attacked our students and stole away my pupil?" All Might asked him with a wide smile. "We came here for payback, League of Villains!"

"You say that like the fight is over," Tomura sneered. "Well, we're in a bit of a bind, so I can see why you'd think that…but it doesn't matter. Kurogiri, bring as many of them here as you can! Bring the Noumu!"

They waited in tense silence for several moments, but Kurogiri's warp portal didn't activate. The villain's glowing eyes narrowed in confusion. "Forgive me, Tomura…but the Noumu that should be at the designated coordinates…they aren't there!"

"As I thought, you're still just a rookie, Tomura," All Might told him, towering over the villain. "You underestimated us too much. Izuku's spirit, the diligent investigation of the police and our fury! The Noumu storehouse is already being raided!"

"What?!" Tomura sputtered in furious disbelief.

"No more games," All Might declared, eyes gleaming dangerously. "It all ends here, Tomura Shigaraki!"

* * *

The students all yelped as the side of the warehouse exploded. They ducked down and waited for the debris to settle before they dared stand back up and find out what was going on.

"What the hell was that?!" Katsuki spluttered.

Ochako made Shoto float again so he could peer over the concrete wall and see what had happened, holding onto his ankles to keep him from flying away too far. Shoto peered through the night vision scope again and stared for a few seconds.

"What just happened, Shoto?" Tenya asked. "What do you see?"

"It's the heroes!" Shoto exclaimed. "Mt. Lady is there- I think she was the one who busted the place open. Kamui Woods, Gang Orca, Tora from the Pussycats…Even my old man is there!"

"They're attacking _now!?"_ Momo gasped.

"Yeah, it looks like they've already suppressed the Noumu," Shoto said as Ochako pulled him back down and deactivated her Quirk. He let out a sigh. "Well, we should get out of here now. They'll definitely be able to handle this on their own. We don't have to worry about Ragdoll or the Noumu anymore."

They could hear the heroes talking from their place and took a moment to just listen to them, to find out what was going on.

Mt. Lady had a Noumu grasped tightly in each of her gigantic hands and stuck her tongue out at them in disgust. "Blegh…these things are actually alive?"

"Noumu storehouse suppression complete," Kamui Woods declared, having entrapped a number of Noumu in his branches. He glanced at Endeavor, who was pinning a Noumu to the ground with his foot. "But this part of the job was pretty easy, wasn't it? Shouldn't we have gone with All Might, Endeavor?"

"Don't confuse the degree of difficulty of what we're doing with its importance, rookie," Endeavor retorted, letting his foot burn the skin on the Noumu's back. "These damn things would be a problem if that warping villain brought them over to All Might's location. Though I admit I would've liked to pulverize a few of those League of Villains punks myself."

"There's no helping it," Gang Orca told him, squeezing the head of a Noumu with his powerful hand to force it unconscious. "There's a high chance Heat Viper is over there. Your Quirk would making taking him down more difficult."

"I know that," Endeavor snapped. He glanced over his shoulder at Tora, who had retrieved Ragdoll from the tank. "Is that your teammate? What's her condition?"

"She's breathing," Tora replied, cradling the unconscious woman in his arms. "But…something is off about her. What did they do to you, Ragdoll?!"

Ochako looked at the other teenagers, eyes gleaming. "Did you hear that? All Might's attacking the League of Villains!"

"They must've found out about another hideout and hit it at the same time," Momo nodded. "The heroes here will take care of Ragdoll and All Might probably already has Izuku back. Let's get moving…"

"Forgive me, Tora."

Both the concealed students and the heroes in the warehouse froze as a distinctly male voice echoed from a dark hall in the warehouse. It sent chills down their spines, for it held an absolute certainty, eerie calm, and utter authority in its tone.

"I thought Ragdoll had a useful Quirk a long time ago. Since the opportunity fell into my lap, I decided to take it…"

"Don't move!" Orca ordered, holding his hand up towards the villain despite being unable to see him. He sent out a series of echolocating clicks and his eyes narrowed. "There's two of them…"

"Members of the League of Villains, eh?" Endeavor grinned widely. "This job might be more fun than I thought, after all?"

"Is that so?"

Katsuki felt a sense of horror creeping over him. He recognized that second voice. He knew it all too well. Beside him, Shoto and Ochako were also stiff with fright, their eyes growing wide.

"I'll handle these guys," the second voice chuckled. "It's been too long since I got to really let loose. Don't strain that body of yours, All for One."

Another laugh. "Very well, have your fun if it so pleases you."

Endeavor's eyes bulged. "Kamui!"

Kamui Woods launched a massive branch at the two villains as they emerged from the shadows, entrapping the one at the front as he emerged into the moonlight. Emerald flames suddenly blazed up around the man's body and a pair of long, fiery horns flowed at the top of his head. The wood was incinerated in an instant as the man's lips curved into a wide grin, baring his teeth.

"Well hey there, Endeavor," Hisashi sneered. "You come here to get destroyed again?"

"Heat Viper?!" Endeavor snarled furiously.

"I thought he was supposed to be where All Might was!" Orca scowled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I have better things to do than laze about with the rookies," Hisashi started to lift one of his hands up, the flames changing to white as the temperature soared.

Endeavor blanched. _"Take cover!"_

"Now then…"

The sclera of Hisashi's eyes shifted from white to black in an instant and his green irises glowed with a kind of primal glee. Flames began to wisp from the corner of his mouth as his grin widened further.

"Let me kill some time until All Might gets here…"

Nobody was prepared for the blast that came next.

In an instant, everything in front of Hisashi, the heroes, the buildings, the street…everything was simply blown away by a superheated shock wave. It roared out, making the ground and air shake with its power, and created a trail of devastation that scorched the earth. Every single hero, policeman, and Noumu in its path was burned mercilessly.

Endeavor alone amongst the heroes managed to remain capable of rising up after the blast and stood up with a furious snarl on his face, his body still trembling from the raw force that had slammed into him. He'd done his best to intercept the Pyroclasm with his body and soften its effect on those behind him, but even that wasn't enough to mitigate the damage much.

He started to push himself off of his hands and knees, only for a foot to stomp on his back and drive him into the blackened dirt again. Endeavor twisted his neck to glare up at Heat Viper, who smirked down at him and tilted his head to one side playfully. The rank three Chimera's eyes glowed, illuminated by his black sclera and the full moon above him.

"…and burn you to death, 'O fiery hero."

* * *

 **A/N: Part one of a major clash between the heroes and the villains- this is just the start! Look forward to the next chapter, where the battle will reach its climax! Special thanks to Walk the Max Planck once again for helping me develop this chapter!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	29. Scream

_Chapter Twenty Nine: Scream_

Viper grinned and lifted his foot from Endeavor's back, only to swing it forward and kick the Pro hero in the face, sending him rolling away several feet. Endeavor grunted in pain and clutched at his now bleeding face while Viper turned his head about to regard their surroundings.

"Well, would you look at that?" Viper snorted as he noted the conditions of the other Pros and police officers who had been hit by his Pyroclasm. He mockingly started to clap his hands. "Not bad, Endeavor! I think most of them survived this time! Well, a few of them are probably still dead, but you kept the Pros alive at least. Not that they'll be doing a lot of fighting soon."

Kamui Woods, Gang Orca, and Mt. Lady were all lying amongst the rubble, their unconscious bodies steaming from burns and the shock wave. Tora was down as well, having used his body as a shield to protect the defenseless Ragdoll. The riot police had been annihilated, and unlike the Pros, it appeared that a number of them hadn't survived the Pyroclasm. Several were buried under heavy rubble and others, who hadn't been as close to Endeavor's defense, had been caught by the edges of the shockwave and badly burned.

Endeavor wiped the blood from his face and staggered to his feet, seething with rage. "You fucking…"

Viper merely smirked at him. "Still wanna go, eh? Didn't you learn your lesson the last time? Or did I hit you so hard the trauma made you forget?"

Endeavor started stalking towards him, fists clenched and ready for a fight. "I'll show you trauma!"

"Oh, please!" Viper lunged at him and grabbed Endeavor's fist as the Pro swung at him. Endeavor made to grab Viper's neck, but the villain caught his wrist and merely held him off for a few moments. Endeavor was stronger than him physically because he still hadn't yet received his next enhancement, but that didn't matter.

"You can't hurt me with your fire, so you're gonna try and beat me in a slugfest?" Viper scoffed, amused.

"Silence!" Endeavor hissed, forcing his hand forward to grasp Viper by the throat. He squeezed with as much force as he could. "We'll see how cocky you are when I strangle you!"

Viper's body flared with heat and the next thing Endeavor knew, he was being blown away again by another Pyroclasm. He was better prepared this time and managed to retain his footing, stumbling back to a stop and straightening to face the villain. His body was shaking from the impact; this Pyroclasm hadn't been as strong as the first, but it still packed a hell of a punch.

It infuriated Endeavor. Viper was toying with him, fully aware that his Hellflame was absolutely useless against All Flare.

"Well, Endeavor," Viper sneered, rubbing his throat for a moment before lifting his hand and pointing his index finger at the hero. "I heard you went and became the number two hero while I was in prison, so let me congratulate you. You're not on All Might's level, but there aren't a lot of people who can take my Pyroclasms and keep fighting. It's a shame your Quirk is so useless against mine, otherwise this would be a pretty fun battle. But even so, let me see how much heat you can take!"

At his fingertip, a small sphere of concentrated emerald light formed, rapidly swelling until it was the size of a car tire. The air around the Sun Forge became warped and distorted as the temperature soared.

"Serpens Minor!"

The sphere shot towards Endeavor as the hero threw his hands up in defense and exploded into a corona of energy, searing the ground and air with a merciless roar.

All for One chuckled as the mismatched fight grew ever more violent. "After all these years, he still has that childish enthusiasm for fighting. Well, whatever. Let's go ahead and get this over with…"

* * *

The members of the League of Villains bristled in a mixture of fear, awe, and rage at the sight of All Might towering over them. The hero's bright eyes glared down at Tomura, his smile wide and dangerous.

Tomura's jaw clenched in fury. "It ends here?! Bullshit! I've only just gotten started! Justice, peace, this garbage heap of a society that worships heroes…I'm gonna destroy it all! And I'll start by getting rid of you, All Might! You're the one holding all this shit together! I've only just started gathering allies! 'This is the end' my ass! This is just the beginning!"

Kurogiri started to try and create a warp gate, but his body suddenly jolted and he slumped over. Magne stared in fright. "Wh-what?! Wait, what just happened?! I didn't see anything! Is he dead?! Did they kill him?!"

"I played around inside of his gas body a bit," Edgeshot suddenly popped up behind the unconscious villain and his limbs, which had become thin like paper, reverted to their normal appearance. "He's just stunned- he won't die. This guy is the most troublesome of all, so I wanted to keep him from pulling any surprises."

"I already told you lot, didn't I?" Gran Torino huffed sternly. "Behave yourselves and comply. It's for your own good. With a little bit of information and time, the police were able to ascertain your identities and backgrounds in their night work."

"Kenji Hikiishi." Magne froze in surprise.

"Atsuhiro Sako." Compress remained silent and didn't outright respond upon hearing his name.

"Shuuichi Iguchi." Spinner grit his teeth and his eyes grew wider in disbelief.

"Himiko Toga." Himiko kept her head down, but her gaze continued to flash over to Izuku, who didn't know what he was supposed to say as she grew ever more unstable.

"Jin Bubaigawara." Twice attempted to escape his restraints, only to groan when Jeanist tightened the fibers entrapping him.

"You all get it, don't you?" Torino said gravely as he approached their leader, standing beside All Might. "There's nowhere for you to run. Tomura Shigaraki…I've got a few questions for you, as well. Where's your boss? And another thing…where's Heat Viper gotten off to?"

Tomura's breath was starting to get heavier as he realized that they were well and truly trapped. The riot police were started to fill the room, their weapons trained on the villains and with every one that stepped inside, the chances of escape grew ever smaller. His blood was starting to pump and he couldn't think straight. What cards was he supposed to play to get out of this? Did he even have any left?

Izuku could see Himiko's fingers, bound to her sides, straining to reach the knife hidden beneath her sleeve. She was shaking, the light in her eyes quickly becoming hazy with insanity. He wanted to do something for her, anything to just…keep her steady. Even just a little…

He reached over to her and let his fingers brush hers. There was no way he was going to get her knife for her, but maybe this would help. Himiko's hand grasped his tightly and she squeezed. He could feel her skin becoming clammy as she trembled, but he let her hold on and squeezed back in an attempt to comfort her. It wasn't much- she still looked ready to snap at any second, but it was enough to ground her just enough to keep herself from going completely psychotic.

Jeanist's eyes trailed over to Izuku to study their linked hands and his eyebrow rose. Izuku swallowed and tilted his head towards Himiko. The hero studied the girl, seemingly recognizing that she was struggling with some kind of internal battle, and decided to allow the contact. As long as she didn't try to escape or cause any problems, there wasn't anything technically wrong with it, but he kept a wary eye on her nonetheless.

"…not like this…"

Izuku and Jeanist glanced back to Tomura, who was panting with exertion. His chest heaved beneath his fibrous restraints and the look in his eyes was crazed. He glared at All Might with blatant hatred, which only grew more intense as his voice became tinged with madness. "Get the hell out of my sight…vanish…not like this…not like this…this is bullshit…"

All Might clenched his fist and demanded an answer. "Where are your superiors right now, Tomura?!"

 _It's okay, Tomura. I'm here._

 _"I HATE YOU!"_ Tomura screamed at All Might.

Black liquid suddenly emerged out of thin air on either side of Tomura, and from that liquid, came a pair of Noumu. Everyone in the room froze in surprise.

The Noumu screeched as they emerged from the liquid and lunged into the room. Around the other villains, more black liquid materialized and brought yet more Noumu.

Jeanist snapped his gaze to Kurogiri. "Isn't he still stunned?!"

"This isn't his doing!" Edgeshot shouted, darting around Kurogiri to attack a Noumu that emerged close to Izuku. "This isn't his Quirk! It's a different type of warping ability!"

"Jeanist! Don't let go of them!" All Might ordered as he prepared to fight. "We'll deal with the Noumu, just don't let the villains escape!"

Izuku was about to dive into the battle as well to help, but he suddenly felt his stomach heave and then he was vomiting up the same black liquid that had summoned the Noumu. "Blegh!?"

The liquid twisted around his body in an instant, enveloping and pressing in on him on all sides. He felt his heart lurch as he let out a gurgling scream. "All Might!"

"Izuku!" All Might roared and tried to grasp him, but the boy was already gone. The liquid that had taken the teenager splattered to the ground and he bellowed. "NO!"

Jeanist snapped his head over his shoulder to call to the police and other heroes waiting outside. "Tsukauchi! We need backup-?!"

It seemed the problem wasn't just confined to the bar. Outside, Noumu were emerging from the black liquid amongst the ranks of police and heroes and immediately going on the attack. It was utter chaos as the fighting broke out and turned into a frenzy of activity.

Tsukauchi grabbed his radio and spoke into it. "Endeavor! What's going on at your end?! Didn't you suppress the Noumu storehouse yet?!"

He didn't get an answer and Tsukauchi suddenly realized that something was terrible wrong. "Endeavor?!"

In the bar, each member of the League of Villains began to vomit up the same black liquid that had taken Izuku, their faces screwing up in surprise and revulsion. Jeanist tried to keep them immobilized, but whatever Quirk was warping them cut off his fibers and made his containment useless. His eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"They had two different warping Quirks?! This isn't Kurogiri's coordinate based warping…this kind only transfers the intended target!"

"Forget it!" Torino snapped, kicking away a Noumu that had targeting the police officers. "We just have to take these guys down!"

Four of the Noumu latched onto All Might, grasping and biting at his limbs in an attempt to hold him down. The Symbol of Peace was not in the mood to be dealing with these small fry- not after Izuku had been snatched away from him again. His torso twisted as One for All surged beneath his skin. "Oklahoma Smash!"

All Might spun in a burst of motion, using the momentum of his twist to hurl each of the Noumu clinging to him into the floor, walls, and ceiling. The bar was destroyed as the Noumu impacted the building, sending rubble flying all over the place.

Tsukauchi called up to the heroes. "All Might! I can't make contact with Endeavor! Their operation must have failed!"

Jeanist began to launch his fibers at the various Noumu still capable of fighting in the street below. "I'll subdue this lot! All Might, Gran Torino, Edgeshot! You three go back up Endeavor! Heat Viper must be there with the rest of the League of Villains!"

All Might nodded and crouched in preparation to fly off. "I leave it to you!"

He rocketed off with a surge of One for All as Gran Torino and Edgeshot rushed after him.

 _Viper didn't bring the League of Villains over there,_ All Might thought. He clenched his fists. _This has to be All for One's doing…both of them are waiting for us! I won't let you take Izuku away again!_

* * *

Endeavor's costume was in tatters, but he was still on his feet. His legs trembled in exhaustion as he glared at Viper, eyes still strong and defiant with his rage.

Viper whistled in appreciation as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat. "You're still standing after that? My, my, maybe you really do deserve the number two hero spot. I think that's the first time someone's remained on their feet after a direct hit from my Sun Forge. Props to you, Endeavor."

He eyed the hero's legs and smirked again. "Well, perhaps I'm being a bit too kind to you. You don't look like you can stand much longer."

"Fuck…you," Endeavor gasped, his throat raw and pained. The heat had been on a scale he'd never encountered, but that hadn't really hurt him. What hurt was the sheer intensity of the blast. His limbs felt like they were made of lead and just keeping his balance was a struggle.

* * *

Hiding nearby, the five U.A students could only cower behind the concrete wall and try to breathe, paralyzed by horror and desperately forcing themselves to remain silent for fear of being discovered. They were all sweating excessively, their hearts pounding and blood roaring in their ears. Even Katsuki was shaking from the sense of utter oblivion he'd just felt.

It was as though death itself was just a few feet away, playing its deadly game and mercifully unaware of the terrified insects hiding from its presence.

Katsuki tried to swallow down the lump in his throat and slowly turned his head to stare at the others. Momo had a hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide with fright. Ochako looked ready to vomit and was leaning against the wall in an attempt to keep herself steady. Shoto was rigid, every part of his body clenched tightly, and Tenya was just trying to regain his breath as he quietly slid down the wall and sat down.

 _What…just happened!?_ Katsuki thought, looking down at his shaking hands. He lifted one to fist his shirt above his heart, feeling the unbelievable pounding send tremors through his entire body. _Everything got…blown away in an instant…I couldn't even blink…Can't breathe…Was he…he really was just playing…back at the camp?_

He dared to glance over the concrete wall, which had been partially destroyed and thus shortened so he could see over it, and locked his eyes on Viper's figure as the villain approached Endeavor casually. The air around him was warped with heat and he looked so at ease, even with the number two hero at his mercy.

Emerald flames wreathed around Viper, tightly controlled and searing with an intensity Katsuki had never seen in Izuku whenever he used All Flare. The blazing horns atop Viper's head were longer than Izuku's as well, and what little he could see of the villain's face sent chills down his spine. He could see the edge of a wide, delighted grin as Viper closed the gap towards Endeavor, taking pleasure in how thoroughly he was destroying the hero.

For the first time, Katsuki acknowledged that he was completely fucking terrified.

 _He's a goddamn monster!_

"Guh! Agh!"

Katsuki and the other jolted at the noise, which was followed by a coughing fit and the loud splatter of liquid. He whipped his head back to hide behind the wall, but froze as he heard a choking voice.

"Wh-what the…" Izuku gasped, trying not to retch from the taste of the black liquid that had brought him here. "I-it's n-nasty…"

Ochako's eyes went wide in shock. _Deku!_

Katsuki almost spun back around to launch himself over the wall, but Momo grabbed him by the collar in an instant and threw herself in front of him, shoving the teenager into the concrete behind him with her body. She slapped a hand over his mouth and shook her head frantically. If he moved now, he was going to get them all killed.

* * *

"Forgive me, Izuku," All for One apologized as he looked down at the boy. "I had to take action to keep you and the others from being captured."

Izuku coughed some more, but spun around at the sound of other people choking. Black liquid materialized out of thin air and brought with it the rest of the League of Villains. Tomura was the closest one to him, followed by Himiko and the others. Dabi and Kurogiri were still unconscious and their bodies were dumped unceremoniously on the ground.

All for One sighed sympathetically as Tomura staggered and faced his teacher. "You failed again, Tomura? But you cannot let yourself get discouraged. All you need to do is keep trying. I brought your comrades back for you, and Izuku, as well. I know he's important to you. Just try as many times as you need to. That's why I'm here."

He reached up and gently ruffled Tomura's hair in an almost parental kind of way. "Everything is for your sake."

Izuku heard a groan behind them and glanced over his shoulder, only to freeze in place. He was just realizing that Hisashi was a short distance away, and his heart lurched as he saw the villain stop close to a near-defeated Endeavor.

Viper looked back and his lips twitched slightly in amusement. "Oh, he brought them here already? That means All Might isn't far away. He'll probably arrive in a few moments…"

Endeavor was trying to muster his strength to attack Viper again, but the villain wasn't having any of that. He held his hand up at the hero and smirked teasingly. "I hate to cut our fun short, Endeavor, but I don't have time to deal with you if All Might is going to be here soon. Let's do this again some other time."

His emerald eyes gleamed menacingly. "Or not."

The Pyroclasm that erupted from his hand was as big as the first one he'd attacked the heroes with, blowing Endeavor away and annihilating the buildings behind him for an extensive distance. It was an explosion of green flames that roared along its path of destruction without mercy, destroying anything in its way. Car alarms began to blare loudly in the night, quickly followed by screams as innocents were caught up in the attack.

Izuku stared at the destruction with horror. Hisashi wasn't holding back like he had when he had sparred with Izuku. Had Endeavor survived that blast? How many people had been hurt or killed by it?

It made him want to throw up. He could hear the wails of fear, the shrieks, and somehow it felt like this event was just getting started.

Viper turned back towards the villains and stalked towards them, shaking his arm and grimacing slightly. "Ah, damn…I might've overdone that a bit."

"You probably shouldn't waste that kind of power on a half-dead hero," All for One pointed out, though his mechanical voice sounded somewhat amused. "You can't use as many large-scale Pyroclasms as you used to. Save those for All Might."

"Copy that," Viper acknowledged. He surveyed the surrounding wreckage and the other Pro heroes that were still out of commission from his first attack. "I should probably kill the rest of them before they wake up. All Might is going to be a problem without them supporting him…"

All for One suddenly tensed and looked up. "It seems we don't have time for that."

A shape hurtled out of the sky like a meteor before anyone could react and slammed into All for One, who caught the attack's hands with his own. The ground beneath him cratered and the impact sent out a shock wave which had Izuku and the other villains around All for One sprawling over the ground.

All Might gnashed his teeth as he glared at the villain below him. "I'm taking it all back, All for One!"

"You're gonna kill me again, All Might?!" All for One demanded viciously.

Their bodies flared with power and the destruction sent yet another shock wave out to throw those around them further away. All for One managed to shove All Might away from him and stepped back to steady himself. "You sure took your time getting here. The bar is only five kilometers or so away. It took you roughly thirty seconds to get here after I sent all those Noumu…you've gotten soft, my dear Symbol of Peace."

"You're one to talk," All Might retorted as he landed and stood up at his full height. "Look at that industrial mask you've got over your head! Don't you think you're trying too hard?!"

The students hiding behind the concrete couldn't believe what they'd just seen. Katsuki stared over his shoulder as the two overwhelmingly powerful men confronted each other. _That bastard can fend off All Might with his bare hands! He's gotta be that villain running the League behind the scenes! He exists, after all!_

"I'm not making the same mistake I did six years ago, All for One," All Might crouched and then lunged at the Symbol of Evil in a blur of speed. "I'm taking Izuku back and you're getting locked up for good!"

"That won't do," All for One replied simply. "There's so much we each have to do, you know…"

All Might spotted a flicker of movement to his left and spun his head to the side. Viper was sneering, aiming his hand at him as it glowed with heat. "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

A Pyroclasm roared out, sending All Might flying and blasting another section of the city into oblivion. The destructive force was just as intense as it had been when Viper last attacked Endeavor and Izuku felt terror jolt through him. "All Might!"

"Not to worry, Izuku," All for One chuckled. "He won't die from something like that."

Viper's face twisted into a grimace as he shook the pain from his arm and started walking to All for One. "You should probably get Tomura and the others out of here while he's out for a few moments. It'll be easier to kill him if I don't have to worry about blasting them."

"Indeed," All for One held his hand out and his fingers extended into black, claw-like instruments that stretched over to Kurogiri and plunged into the villain's gaseous body. Kurogiri's body jerked and then he was creating a warp portal despite being unconscious.

Magne was freaking out over the situation and incredibly confused, but he realized that All for One was their ally. "Wh-what did you just do? He's passed out! I don't know what's going on here, but you can warp us out yourself, can't you?! Help us out!"

"I'm sorry, Magne," All for One responded as he forcibly activated Kurogiri's Quirk. "The warping Quirk I used to transport you all here is still quite fresh, so the distance I can transfer you is limited. It's also different from Kurogiri's coordinate-based warping; I can only move objects to and from my location, and it only works if I'm sending to someone I have a close relationship with."

The Symbol of Evil turned to Tomura. "Take Izuku and leave. Remember Tomura, you can still grow so much more."

All Might was diving out of the sky again in the next instant and slammed into All for One, who once again met the blow with his bare hands. Tomura held up an arm to ward off the shock wave. "Teacher…"

Compress knelt and placed his hand against Dabi's unconscious form, collecting him into a small sphere that he pocketed quickly. "Tomura, let's get out of here while that pipe-face is keeping All Might busy! We gotta bring Izuku, too!"

Viper scowled as he approached the grappling titans. "Still gonna ignore me and go after All for One, All Might?!"

"Neither of you are getting away!" All Might bellowed as he heaved against All for One with all his strength. All for One grunted and shoved back, both of them straining to overpower the other.

"Let's get serious here," Viper snarled, his hand blazing with searing green and white fire. "You can't take us both on with your injury. One way or another, you're going to die!"

"No!"

Izuku rushed over, standing between Viper and his prey to spread his arms in a defensive gesture. "I'm not gonna let you kill him!"

Viper glared at Izuku. "Move. I don't have time to deal with you."

Izuku's body flared up and plasma began to spark off his limbs. "I won't let you!"

"Izuku, just run!" All Might roared, bringing a fist back to punch at All for One, only for the villain to catch his attack and retaliate with a vicious hook to his face. The Symbol of Peace spat red from his mouth and smashed his head into All for One's mask, causing the Symbol of Evil to recoil.

Viper clenched his fingers as though they were claws, eyeing All Might as though he were imagining tearing the hero apart. "You heard him, Izuku. Get lost so we can kill him."

"NO!" Izuku screamed. "I won't let you kill him! All Might…he's like a father to me!"

It was, at once, the best and worst thing he could have said to keep Viper's attention on him.

Hisashi froze and his gaze whipped down to Izuku to stare at him. Shock, disbelief, denial, and then utter fury passed over his face in a matter of seconds. Izuku glared back at him, tears of fright forming at the corners of his eyes, but he didn't relent.

 _"You brought this on yourself,"_ Viper breathed, the rage in his voice barely discernible. "Tomura, you all stay back…I've got to beat some respect into my son. I don't want to kill any of you by accident."

Tomura wisely obeyed. The other villains took a few wary steps closer to Kurogiri's portal, but Himiko looked like she was going to reach for her knife. Magne grabbed the girl's shoulder and shook her head frantically. "Bad idea."

Himiko could only watched helplessly as Izuku and Viper squared off, the father towering over the son as they both blazed with emerald flames. There was something dangerous about the way Viper was glaring at the teenager, seething in his rage, and Himiko feared that he might not be able to stop himself from getting too violent.

* * *

Behind the concrete wall, Katsuki watched Izuku and Viper face one another in preparation to fight while All Might and All for One battled viciously not far away. His heart lurched as Viper stepped closer to Izuku. He thought that Viper might not use deadly force against his own son, but he didn't look like he'd be exercising much self-restraint given how angry he was. Izuku wasn't as durable as Endeavor or All Might. If he got hit by one of those overpowered blasts…

"We have to do something!" Ochako gasped frantically. She looked terrified and couldn't stop shaking, but she was more horrified by the prospect of Izuku getting killed while they watched helplessly.

"We can't!" Tenya hissed at her, grabbing the girl's arm to keep her in place. "We'll get killed in an instant! We can't fight them!"

Shoto nodded, his throat tight. "Tenya's right. Th-there's nothing we can do."

"The hell there isn't!" Katsuki snarled, struggling against Momo to join Izuku. "Let me go!"

Momo slapped his cheek and glared into his eyes while he was stunned by the sting, her gaze filled with a mixture of terror and stern anger. "Stop it! We can't just jump in! If-if we're going to do something, we need a plan! Think, Katsuki! We won't be able to save Izuku if you get yourself killed!"

Katsuki stared back at her dumbly for a few seconds. She was terrified- they all were, but she was the most level-headed of them all right now. And he knew she was right. If he just…jumped in, the villains might be surprised, but it wouldn't be long before he was killed by the two monsters currently engaging All Might and terrorizing Izuku. He swallowed and dipped his head, taking a breath to try and calm down.

Momo set her head against the boy's shoulder, trying to catch her breath and think rationally. They wouldn't have a lot of time…maybe a minute or two at the most, depending on how long Izuku could last against Viper, if that. It needed to be simple and effective, something…something that would leave the villains immobilized just long enough to get Izuku away from them…

There had to be something…there had to be…

She blinked at the sound of a helicopter flying overhead.

* * *

"This is like something out of a nightmare!" The reporter gasped, holding a mic up as the cameraman beside her filmed the battle beneath them. The helicopter turned, trying to keep its distance, but also to get a good view of All Might's clash with All for One. "In a matter of minutes, the Kamino Ward has been brought to a half-destroyed state! All Might is battling with a villain thought to be the ringleader of the group, and the villain is fighting on more than equal terms with the Symbol of Peace!"

The reporter glanced nearby, spotting a pair of individuals wreathed in dancing emerald flames. "Heat Viper is down there as well! He's suspected to be the cause of the first explosions that set this conflict in motion! It- it appears as though he's confronting a child…We're confirming that the subject in question is the missing U.A student, Izuku Midoriya! It looks like they're talking, but I can't tell if they're allies or- no, they've started fighting!"

* * *

Izuku knew he wasn't going to have a chance at keeping Hisashi at bay for long, but he was had to if he wanted to give All Might enough time to take All for One down.

There wasn't going to be any victory here if he didn't take risks.

Hisashi was furious and not thinking clearly. Izuku had that going for him, but he was also aware that the villain was a lot slower than he had been at the training camp. Even so, the longer the fight went on, the faster Viper would find victory against him- Izuku couldn't hope to match the overwhelming might of his All Flare. He was just going to have to hit him as hard and fast as he could and keep the villain guessing.

He charged up 100% in his toe and blurred at Viper, whose eyes flickered with surprise upon realizing Izuku had made the first move. His arms came up to guard as Izuku made to throw a punch at his face, only for Izuku to grab Viper's hair and flip himself over and behind the villain.

Izuku spun back around as Viper mirrored him and dove for the villain's legs, charging 100% again in his finger and shooting at his target's ankles to force him off-balance. The surge of wind pressure and plasma lifted Viper into the air as he was thrown off his feet, and he snarled as he tried to spin and land again.

Surprise and pain shot through Viper as Izuku grabbed the back of his head while he was still slightly airborne and slammed his face into his knee. Fresh blood started flowing from his nose and his eyes stung, although the blow didn't actually do much damage and only served to infuriate him further. He made to release a blast of heat and repel the teenager away, but Izuku chose that moment to deliver a full 100% uppercut to his jaw.

"100% Manhattan Smash!"

It was a phenomenal punch that sent Viper skyrocketing into the air, stunned by the impact and in full view of the helicopter's camera as blood spewed from his mouth.

Izuku bit back a cry as the bones in his arm shattered from the attack, forcing himself to focus on Viper's airborne figure. A big hit like that would hurt him, but it wouldn't be enough to incapacitate the villain. His suspicion was confirmed as he saw Viper twist in midair after a second, glaring down at him murderously.

Viper let out a roar, unleashing a gale of Hellbreath fire from his mouth. Izuku dove behind a concrete slab to take cover as the emerald fire blasted the rubble around him. As soon as the blaze was gone, he rushed back out and tried to flank Viper as the villain landed.

Viper's hand rushed up to unleash a Pyroclasm, which Izuku countered by flicking again at 100%. The two surges of energy collided and were blown skyward in a shock wave. Emerald flames and arcing bolts of plasma roared against one another.

Izuku shot himself at Viper with another 100% from his toe, but the villain was a little further away this time and was able to react. He started to lean away to the side, but Izuku's arm rushed out to wrap around the man's throat and clothesline him. The teenager used his momentum to spin himself around so he had Viper in a headlock and heaved, trying to force the villain onto his back.

With a furious snarl, Viper's hand flashed up to grab Izuku's shirt and he threw the teenager over his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him. Izuku had the breath knocked out of him from the impact and while he was stunned, Viper's boot slammed into his chest and generated another Pyroclasm.

The blast had Izuku screaming in pain as his ribs cracked from the force of the shock wave. He reached up, scrabbling to get Viper's foot off of him, only for another Pyroclasm to pulverize him further into the ground. The second explosion had blood bubbling out of Izuku's lips as he screamed again.

"All Might is _not_ your father," Hisashi growled at him viciously. "Don't you dare say that he is, either! He- gah!"

Viper was forced off of Izuku as a blur of motion slammed into the villain's chest with a vicious kick. The blow didn't do a lot of damage, but it was enough to distract him long enough for Edgeshot to dart in and get Izuku away from Hisashi's attacks.

Gran Torino's gaze trailed from Izuku's wounded figure back to Viper with a furious expression. "Have you fallen so far you'd hurt your own son, Hisashi?!"

"Keep your nose out of family matters, old timer!" Viper roared, expelling a surge of Hellbreath at the senior hero. Torino bolted out of the way, but he couldn't re-engage Viper now that the villain was aware of his presence and had increased the output of flames around his body.

Viper was only distracted for a moment as he tried to hit Torino's airborne figure with another blast of flame, but it was enough to catch him off-guard when a devastating impact drove itself into the villain's left side. His gut clenched and he spat up a gout of blood as the attack sent him crashing along the ground. He dug his fingers into the dirt and flipped to right himself, landing and stumbling back a few paces to regain his balance.

Izuku had rejoined the fight, but the attack had cost him his left arm, which was now just as broken as his right. He was gasping for breath and every movement seemed to cause him pain, but he couldn't let up on the pressure, even with Edgeshot and Torino here.

Viper was still a menace and All Might's battle with All for One wasn't over. The two titans had moved off a ways, but they were still causing utter devastation in their death struggle. Izuku didn't have time to see who was winning- he was busy enough trying to keep Viper from going after them.

Torino flew over to him and scowled at the damage Izuku had taken. "You need to get out of here, you're too hurt to fight!"

"I can't just run," Izuku gasped, clenching his jaw against the pain surging through his body. "If I'm not here, he'll just go after All Might! He can't fight Viper and All for One at the same time!"

The veteran hero grit his teeth as he studied the teenager. _He's right…The only reason Hisashi's taken as much damage as he has is because of the kid's resistance to those flames. But even so, he's a mess! Both of his arms are broken and I'm not sure if he has any internal injuries from those blasts he took!_

Torino glared back at Viper as the villain stalked towards them again, eyes sharp as Edgeshot moved to try and flank him. Viper unleashed a blast of flame at the hero, who had to dart away to avoid the attack.

 _We're caught in a bind! Hurry up and win, Toshinori!_

* * *

Katsuki swallowed as he surveyed the battlefield. Izuku was going nuts out there trying to keep Viper from fighting All Might, but he was afraid the teenager might not last much longer, even with Edgeshot and that old geezer backing him up. Viper was just so stupidly powerful, although he didn't seem to be as fast or as strong as before for some reason.

His eyes trailed to the other villains, who were hovering around the Kurogiri's portal and avoiding the battle at all costs. Katsuki chewed on his lip thoughtfully as he studied the gate. Maybe…if he wanted to blow away even Viper, he was going to need a hell of an explosion. But there was no time to worry about safety. If he screwed up here with some underpowered blast, he was gonna get himself and the others killed.

…this was gonna hurt like a bitch, but he had no choice.

"…I have an idea," he said, getting the attention of his classmates. Katsuki grinned nervously at them. "If you guys give me a distraction for just a second, I think I can get Viper and the other villains out of the way."

"How?" Momo asked.

* * *

Izuku bent his knees and charged up 100% in his toes again, propelling himself at Viper once more while the villain was trying to hit Edgeshot. Viper spotted his approach and immediately reached up to unleash a Pyroclasm, only for Edgeshot to take the opportunity to rush in and slash his arm. The villain responded by generating a surge of flames around him, the force of which blew Edgeshot away.

Izuku swung his fist at Viper again with One for All at its maximum output. Plasma bolts sparked and jolted as he struck, but Viper caught the attack in his hand this time and cancelled it with another Pyroclasm. The force of the colliding blows at such a tight range sent a burst of pain roaring through Izuku's arm and he let out a cry.

Viper grabbed the teenager by the collar and didn't hesitate to throw him onto his back again, lifting his foot to stomp the boy. Before he could, Gran Torino darted in and kicked him in the side, sending Hisashi staggering. The attack gave Izuku a chance to scramble to his feet and back off, reeling from his injuries and gasping for breath.

As Viper made to pursue the teenager, Torino drove another kick into the back of his head. Viper lost his patience, snapping his hand up to launch a blast of fire at the helicopter overhead. "Make yourself useful somewhere else, you damn geezer!"

Torino blanched as the tail of the chopper was caught by the flames and exploded. He flew up in an instant to save the crew, who could be heard screaming over the wailing engine of the reeling chopper. Viper took aim again now that he knew where Torino was going to be.

Izuku rushed at Viper and grabbed his arm, yanking the limb away from Torino and the endangered civilians. Viper growled as his body was spun to the side, but snatched Izuku's shoulder with his free hand to keep him still. He flared up yet more flames as Edgeshot attempted to get close, repelling the Pro hero.

Momo peeked over the rubble she and the other students were using as cover and felt her heart rate spike. Viper's back was turned to them and Izuku was keeping him still. Further away, All Might and All for One were still fighting, but at a safer distance. They weren't going to get another chance like this.

"Let's go!" She exclaimed to the others, who were ready and waiting for her signal to start the plan. A flash grenade started to form from Momo's hand. "Now!"

Izuku squeezed with 100% and the sound of breaking bone caused Viper to roar in fury. His hand gripping Izuku's shoulder surged with heat, generating a Pyroclasm that sent the teenager flying.

Nobody was quite prepared for what happened next.

Maybe it was bad luck. Maybe Viper hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. Maybe no one had.

A sickening wet squelch filled the air, along with a crunching that made the hairs of everyone within earshot stand on end. Viper's rage ceased in an instant as he stared ahead of him, eyes growing wide.

Izuku stared back, mirroring his shock.

Every single person froze simultaneously as their eyes trailed to the source of the horrific sound.

To the inch-wide steel pipe protruding, almost mockingly, from the left side of Izuku's stomach.

Izuku's gaze fell to the piece of metal and he could only stare, uncomprehendingly, at the crimson liquid flowing down its length and soaking into his clothes. His lips trembled as blood filled his mouth and spilled out from the corners. "…ahh…"

Hisashi's expression was one of utter shock, which twisted into pure horror as he realized what had just happened. He'd blindly launched Izuku into a mass of concrete that had the pipe sticking out of it and now his son was…

He hardly even flinched upon hearing the _scream,_ a _howl_ of such unfettered hatred that had he been fully coherent, he might've briefly feared for his life. As it was, he didn't react fast enough to stop Katsuki from lunging at him and slamming his right hand against Hisashi's chest.

An explosion roared out, one which made Katsuki's blast at the Sports Festival look tame by comparison. The surge of energy was enough to lift Hisashi off his feet and send not just him, but every member of the League of Villains flying away- straight into Kurogiri's warp gate. For even though Katsuki was overcome with rage unlike anything he'd ever experienced, he instinctively followed the plan and blasted Viper at such an angle that it launched him and every villain behind him into the portal.

Most of the villains barring Hisashi yelped or shouted in surprise as they were thrown into Kurogiri's gate, but Himiko's eyes were locked on Izuku's impaled body. For that moment before she passed through the gate, she didn't feel desire as she normally did upon seeing so much blood- she felt nothing but horror, and couldn't stop the cry that left her lips. "No!"

Hisashi was stunned by the devastating blast, but even in his dazed state, he couldn't stop staring at Izuku's broken form. He was unable to respond properly in his shock, even as he was thrown through portal behind the other villains and disappeared as it closed behind him.

Edgeshot locked onto Katsuki as the teenager crumpled to his knees. "Who the hell-?!"

"Edgeshot!"

The hero spun towards the voice of Best Jeanist, who had just arrived on the scene. One look at Izuku and Katsuki and he instantly judged what had to be done. "You go back up All Might! I'll handle things here!"

Edgeshot nodded and bolted towards the battle still raging a distance away. "I'm counting on you!"

Jeanist darted over to Izuku first. Momo and the other students ran out from their hiding places, but the Pro barely spared them a glance. Ochako and Tenya rushed after Jeanist as Momo and Shoto made their way to Katsuki.

Momo knelt by Katsuki's side and froze. She'd wondered why Katsuki hadn't run over to Izuku as soon as he blew the villains away, but now she knew why.

Katsuki's right arm was dislocated at the shoulder and the limb itself was in ruins. His hand was burnt from touching Viper's flame-clad body, but his arm had been horrifically damaged by the overpowered blast he'd set off in his rage. Blood was flowing out of wounds in his arm that had literally exploded from the inside. It was limp at his side and although it trembled, he didn't seem to be able to move it.

Momo felt a shock of horror rush through her. He'd told them he had an attack to blow Viper away, but this…this was too much! Was his arm even salvageable?!

Shoto was already setting his hands on the teenager's dislocated shoulder and glanced at the frozen expression on Momo's face. "Momo! Pull yourself together! Make some bandages!"

That jolted her out of her shock and she started to produce bandages from her arms in excessive amounts, which she immediately wrapped around Katsuki's ruined arm. The teenager's eyes were wide and his mouth opened and closed in shocked pain. Shoto braced himself and shoved down on Katsuki's dislocated shoulder, forcing the joint back in place.

Momo felt her eyes sting as a strangled cry left Katsuki's lips.

Ochako almost stumbled over a pile of rubble as she raced over to Izuku with Tenya. Jeanist was already there, the fibers of his costume weaving out to probe the terrible injury. Upon reaching them, Ochako felt her body go numb as the blood in her veins turned cold as ice.

Izuku's head had fallen back, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and fluttering as his fast, shallow panting sent utter agony through his body with every breath. Ochako could only stare at his paling face, at the blood trickling down his lips, dripping from his chin onto _the pipe impaling his body, oh god, there was so much_ ** _red_** …

"You two," Jeanist snapped, jolting Ochako out of her trance. "One of you help me get him off of this pipe so I can stitch what I can with my fibers. The other needs to keep him calm. He's in shock, but he's still conscious and this is going to hurt."

Tenya gulped and nodded sharply. "I'll help pull him off."

Ochako didn't respond verbally and just walked over to Izuku's right side, lifting her shaky hands to frame his face between them. His gaze was unfocused and his eyes were still rolling. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and tried to speak.

"D-D-Deku, listen, o-okay?" Her words came out in a broken sob and Ochako didn't realize until then that she was crying. "Y-you're gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. You're alright."

A strangled whimper escaped Izuku's lips as he seemingly recognized her. "O-ocha-"

He gasped, a loud, throaty sound full of pain as more blood flowed out of his mouth and made a gurgling sound. Ochako shook her head and ran her trembling fingers through his hair. "No, d-don't talk. It's okay, it's okay."

Jeanist muttered quietly to Tenya. "You have his shoulder? Now, three, two, one-"

Izuku _screamed_ as they pulled him off the pipe, a squelching noise filling the air the steel was removed from his body and blood splattered on the ground. Tenya held him up while Jeanist's fibers moved into the wound, stitching up what he could to keep the teenager from bleeding out until they got him to a surgeon.

Ochako cupped Izuku's face in her hands again and felt her heart lurch as his breathing grew more shallow and he went limp in her grasp. He choked up more blood onto her shirt and she started crying frantically. "Izuku! Izuku, look at me! _Look at me!"_

Sobs wracked her entire body as she struggled to breathe. His eyes met hers, full of pain and terror as he became more aware of how close to death he was. Ochako pressed her forehead to his and lifted one of her hands once more to weave her fingers through the curly green locks atop his head, doing whatever she could to soothe him as Jeanist performed emergency treatment.

"That's it," she whimpered, her thumb tracing circles on his cheek below his eye. "That's it. You're doing good, j-just stay awake. That's it, keep looking at me. I've got you…I've got you…"

They remained like that, blind to the sounds of All Might and All for One still battling in the distance, until Jeanist was satisfied that he'd done what he could. "He needs a doctor right now. There should be a hospital a mile or so away that hasn't been destroyed…"

"I-I can take him."

Jeanist glanced over his shoulder, eyes widening as he spotted Mt. Lady slowly walking towards them. The young woman was badly burnt, but she was conscious and steady on her feet. Jeanist considered the option for a moment. "Can you use your Quirk like that?"

"Long enough to get him and the other kid to the hospital."

Jeanist's eyes trailed to Katsuki, whose right arm was wrapped up in bandages courtesy of Momo, and inclined his head. "If you're sure."

Mt. Lady nodded back and took a breath before using her Gigantification Quirk to supersize herself. She knelt and lowered her hands, palms up as Jeanist carried Izuku over to her. He called to Momo and Shoto to bring Katsuki over and then faced the uninjured students. "You four, follow Mt. Lady and I to the hospital. I'm going to ride with them to keep them stable. Time is of the essence."

"Yes, sir," Shoto replied quietly for the rest of them.

Jeanist had a lot he wanted to say to the children as Mt. Lady lifted him, Izuku, and Katsuki to carry them off to the hospital, but there was no time for that. Izuku's life hung in the balance and after seeing the state of Katsuki's arm, he wasn't sure if the limb was in a state where it would recover fully. And frankly speaking, had the students not chosen to act, he wasn't sure if Izuku would have survived.

All Might might have even died if Viper had decided to pursue him after wounding his son. As it was, the Symbol of Peace was still engaged in a life-and-death struggle in the distance, but Jeanist had to prioritize the rescue. Edgeshot and the other heroes would have to do what they could to help him.

Jeanist looked down at the two boys, his fibers moving to address what injuries they could as he sighed.

Even if they won this battle…what had it cost them?

* * *

 **A/N: So...I saw Infinity War. I was already planning on making this chapter angsty, but now...the angst feels even worse. In light of that, I'll refrain from my usual teasing of you guys and show some mercy. Just...if you haven't seen Infinity War yet, (and no spoilers for the courtesy of others, please) go and see it. It's an amazing movie and the ending is just...I haven't felt that kind of punch in the gut from watching a movie for a long, long time.**

 **That's all for now. As ever, please review and thanks for reading.**


	30. Bittersweet

_Chapter Thirty: Bittersweet_

The hospital room was silent, save the beeping of the heart monitor and Izuku's slow, steady breathing through the oxygen mask. Momo rubbed her eyes drowsily, fighting off sleep as she gently ran her fingers through Ochako and Eri's hair.

They were sitting on the floor against the wall, Ochako's head slumped against Momo's shoulder as she slept. Eri was curled up in Momo's lap and her weight was cutting the circulation off in the teenager's right leg, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Even though she was asleep, her face was exhausted and pale, and there were still dried tear trails along her cheeks.

A blanket had been draped over them at some point, but Momo couldn't remember when. She was pretty sure one of the nurses had given it to them when they got here.

That same nurse was in a chair beside Izuku, carefully monitoring his vitals for any anomalies. He'd been through nine hours of surgery to repair the internal damage he'd suffered, and he was due for another one in about twelve hours so Recovery Girl could accelerate the healing process and address any minor wounds they'd left stitched by Jeanist's fibers.

Jeanist had been his saving grace. Momo had had no idea the number four hero was so talented in emergency medical treatment, but the doctor's had more or less told them that Izuku would've died halfway to the hospital if Jeanist hadn't been there.

In another chair beside the nurse, Inko watched her son rest. She'd arrived as quickly as she could, bringing with her Eri and Katsuki's parents. The older woman had been beside herself with worry for her child, and Eri had been no better. Neither of them had dared to leave the waiting room until Izuku's surgery was finished.

Although there was sunlight gleaming through the thin shafts of the blinds over the window, Momo had never felt so _tired_. She hadn't slept a wink all night, too overwhelmed by everything that had happened. She'd spent the entire night running back and forth from Katsuki's surgery to Izuku's, trying to keep up with everything and fill in her friends amidst the chaos following the Kamino Ward incident.

Honestly, Momo wasn't even sure how the incident had ended. She'd had to focus on her friends just to keep herself going as time dragged on and she grew more and more exhausted.

Ochako made a small sound in her sleep and Momo hushed her softly, stroking the other girl's hair again. Once Katsuki's surgery had ended and Momo knew he would be okay, she went back to Ochako, took the girl to a quiet stairwell in the hospital, and just let her cry. They'd remained there until Shoto texted her and informed them that Izuku's surgery had concluded and that, for now, he was in the clear.

Ochako had cried even more after hearing the good news, sobbing out of sheer relief. Momo had cried, too. They both needed to just…get it all out of their systems.

They were allowed to see Izuku an hour later, although the boy was still unconscious and under observation. The doctors didn't want a lot of people inside and had restricted it to family and friends. Inko had given Ochako, Momo, Tenya, and Shoto permission to come and go as they pleased. Katsuki's parents had been informed they could visit as well, but they'd spent all their time with their own son. Not that anyone would blame them.

Momo didn't know where Tenya was, but she recalled that he'd intended to inform the rest of their class via a group message about what had happened to Izuku and Katsuki. She had no idea where Shoto had gotten off to either- he'd been missing for a few hours now.

As her thoughts trailed to the dual-element teenager, the door opened quietly and he peeked inside. Inko glanced at him, but didn't say anything except offer a brief smile. Shoto nodded to her and then looked at Momo and the two sleeping girls practically piled on top of her.

"How is he?" Shoto asked, his voice little more than a murmur.

Momo managed a tired smile. "He's holding on. Where'd you go?"

Shoto walked over to sit on Momo's other side and let out a sigh, his head falling back against the wall. "Went to go see my dad."

His dad. That was right, Endeavor…he'd been blown away by Viper during the battle…Momo had forgotten about that.

"How's he doing?" She asked.

"He'll live," Shoto answered lowly. "He's in worse shape than I've ever seen him, but he'll recover, or so they say. He'll be out of commission for a while, though."

"I see. Tenya?"

"Still messaging everyone. He was in the cafeteria for a while, but he told me he was going to head home soon to sleep. His folks were pretty worried, I think."

Momo hadn't even thought about her parents, and it sent a pang of guilt through her. Shoto caught the dreary expression on her face and reached up to squeeze her shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up for it, Momo. We're all just trying to process everything."

She inclined her head, too tired to argue. "Did you check on Katsuki? I haven't been by to see him in…Actually, I don't know how long I've been here…"

"He's sleeping. Recovery Girl was there last I checked, though. Said his arm would make it, though he's gonna need rehab to regain full use."

Momo felt relief wash over her and though her eyes started stinging, she was too tired to cry. "That's good…Where'd you go earlier?"

"You already asked me that. Are you getting delirious?" Shoto snorted, squeezing her shoulder one more time. "Go to sleep. You haven't gotten to rest at all since the incident. I'll wake you up if anything happens."

She nodded blearily, too exhausted to argue as she stopped fighting her heavy eyelids. As soon as they closed, Momo passed out and her head fell against Ochako's with a soft breath.

Shoto looked at the blanket covering the three girls and then glanced at the nurse in the chair by Izuku's bed. "Excuse me? Are there more of these blankets?"

The nurse nodded and stood up. "Yes, I'll go get you one. You just stay there, sweetie- you kids have had a rough time."

She hurried out of the room and Shoto looked up at Izuku's figure on the hospital bed, watching him in silence. There was so much to process. In addition to his classmates being so badly wounded, Shoto had caught bits and pieces of what had happened at the end of the battle between All Might and that monster of a villain. All he knew was that All Might had won, but…even then, he'd gathered that society was in a state of chaos following the incident.

 _All Might…_

* * *

Toshinori Yagi held up his hand and clenched it into a fist, ignoring the dull pain it caused him. Although he was bandaged up and still sitting in a hospital bed, exhausted and banged up worse than he'd been in a while, he couldn't bring himself to sleep.

His final clash with All for One had brought with it too many revelations to sleep, and the news that Izuku had been so terribly hurt made it worse.

 _"Tomura Shigaraki is Nana Shimura's grandchild."_

 _"I created All Flare and Hisashi, and thus Izuku is a child of mine, as well."_

 _"Toshi," Inko wailed as he arrived at the hospital. "It's Izuku!"_

Gran Torino and Detective Tsukauchi were sitting in chairs at his bedside, both of them silent as they processed what Toshinori had told them.

Toshinori unclenched his hand and ran it through his blonde hair in an attempt to rub the exhaustion out. "The last embers of One for All have gone out inside of me. The Symbol of Peace is dead. But even so…there's still so much I have to do."

Torino leaned on his cane and sighed. "Tomura Shigaraki is Nana's grandchild, huh…Yeah, that does sound like something All for One would do…"

Tsukauchi glanced at him. "That's just what he claimed, right? He didn't have any basis behind it. Did either of you interact with the previous generation's family?"

Torino shook his head. "Nana's husband was killed. She wanted to distance her child from the dangers of the world of heroes and gave him up to a foster family. She made Toshinori and I promise that under no circumstances did she want us to come into contact with her son, even if the worst were to happen to her."

"And by making that promise, this happens," Tsukauchi pinched his brow. "All for One really made an effort to hit us where it hurts…"

"My master just wanted to give her child a life of peace by giving him up," Toshinori muttered, his head falling forward. "I…I have to find Tomura and tell him the truth. If I do, then he-"

"No," Torino interrupted him sternly. "What would you do if you found him? You aren't capable of seeing him as a villain anymore- you would be at a loss. No matter what his bloodline may be, he's a villain, Toshinori. You of all people should know well that an individual's blood doesn't matter."

Tsukauchi nodded. "Tomura might have become a villain, but you still have Izuku. Regardless of his bloodline, the entire world saw him fighting Heat Viper last night. Even the people who questioned his place in U.A are now facing the indisputable truth that he's got every intention of becoming a hero."

"You leave the investigation of Tomura and the League of Villains to Tsukauchi and I," Torino requested. "You must remain at U.A and continue to guide Izuku and the others. Even if you can no longer be the Symbol of Peace, All Might is still alive."

Toshinori's shoulders sagged. "I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to face them after this. Inko trusted me to save Izuku and I…"

"You can't blame yourself for that," Torino said gruffly. "You drew All for One away and defeated him. If you hadn't, Izuku would have had no chance to escape the League. He'd still be in their clutches."

"I checked in with the doctor in charge of him a few hours ago," Tsukauchi added. "Thanks to Best Jeanist's emergency treatment, they were able to get him to the hospital fast enough to keep him from suffering any permanent organ damage. He needed a blood transfusion and will need a few more surgeries, but he'll make it out of this. He'll be getting into trouble again before you know it."

 _I know,_ Toshinori thought to himself, clenching his jaw to fight off the distress inside of him. _I know all of that, but…_

 _"I won't let you kill him! All Might…he's like a father to me!"_

 _I almost lost him._

* * *

The next day, after Ochako, Momo, Shoto, and Tenya had had time to rest and recover somewhat, they were contacted by Mr. Aizawa and told to meet him at the hospital. All of them knew what it was about without having to be asked- their completely illegal involvement in a life-and-death situation.

They met him at the entrance to the hospital and were led to a room a few floors up, where they found Detective Tsukauchi and the skeletal form of All Might waiting for them.

All Might was in civilian clothes now, but his left arm was still in a sling and he had bandages patched over parts of his head and no doubt elsewhere on his body under his outfit. For a moment, the students had to take a moment to realize that _this_ was All Might. The Symbol of Peace, their teacher, the number one hero.

Or what was left of him.

"Thank you for meeting here with us," Tsukauchi greeted them politely. "Katsuki is still confined to his room, so we'll speak with him later, but you know why you're here, right?"

Ochako lowered her gaze to the floor. "Because we went after Deku, right?"

"Exactly," Aizawa looked at the four of them with exasperation. "Katsuki aside, I had considered you four to be some of my more rational students. When Jeanist told me that you'd gotten yourselves involved in the Kamino Ward incident, you might like to know that I was _livid."_

The four students flinched at the anger in Aizawa's tone, but didn't dare argue against him. He had every right to be furious with them after the danger they'd put themselves in.

"That being said," Aizawa went on, dragging out every word. "You four- and Katsuki- aren't going to get a lecture from me yet. I'll wait until school starts again before I put you through that, but you aren't getting out of this scot-free. You can thank Jeanist for that. It was only his persuasion that stopped me from outright expelling you."

Tenya's shoulders tensed as his whole body went rigid.

"All Might, the Principal, and myself have discussed the matter and we've decided that for the time being, the trauma you all went through is punishment enough," Aizawa said gruffly. "For now…Those of us here would like to unofficially thank you for your intervention."

Ochako's eyes whipped up and grew wide in shock. "Wh-what?"

"Don't make me repeat myself. Frankly, I don't want to praise any of you for this, but Jeanist, Edgeshot, and Gran Torino made it clear that if you five didn't act when you did, Heat Viper would've probably gone after All Might and Izuku certainly would have died if the League of Villains didn't recapture him. Your actions saved lives and didn't cost any."

All Might nodded. "As impulsive and brash as it was of you to intervene, the only reason Izuku is even alive- and likely myself, for that matter- is because you youngsters chose to act. Speaking legally, we can't thank you for it, but we want you to know that everything you went through made a difference."

"The police are on the same page," Tsukauchi added. "Fortunately, no one caught video footage of you five on the scene. Had one of the news cameras spotted you, the police would have had no choice but to demand expulsion as a punishment for vigilantism. Those laws are strict, but since you weren't seen, and since your actions did more good than harm…we're willing to turn a blind eye this time. Should it happen again, however, there won't be a safety blanket for you- no matter how good your intentions might be. You're all good, smart, and talented kids, and I would hate to see any of you be expelled, but this is your last warning. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," Shoto replied in a small voice, fully aware that he and Tenya especially were on shaky ground considering their involvement in the Stain incident. The heroes and the police were generous to them- this time. Tsukauchi made it clear that this would be the last time they'd be let off the hook so easily."

"Again, don't assume that because you aren't being expelled that you're getting away from punishment," Aizawa warned them, still glaring from one student to another. "I _will_ punish you for this. Katsuki too- him blowing up his arm doesn't let him escape the consequences of his actions."

They all nodded meekly, none of them daring to interrupt their teacher. Aizawa closed his eyes in thought for several seconds. "I don't like playing the bad cop. I know where you're coming from; you were worried about your friend. I understand that. But you have to understand that there are laws that have to be upheld. Think carefully. If your plan had failed, what might have happened? Would I be writing letters to parents about how their children were killed somewhere they shouldn't have been in the first place?"

Momo swallowed a lump down her throat. Her eyes stung from guilt.

Aizawa looked at them all and sighed, his shoulders visibly sagging. "You kids scared the shit out of me. That's why I'm so incensed with you all. In a single night, five of my students almost got themselves murdered by willingly walking into danger. Two of them were in critical condition. I very much give a damn about what happens to you all, do you understand that?"

"Y-yes, sir," Ochako choked out, her lower lip wobbling.

"Good. In which case," Aizawa's gaze became a little softer. "Thank you for coming back to us alive."

* * *

Momo made her way upstairs to drop by Katsuki's room. He'd been unconscious when she finally left the hospital yesterday, but the nurses had told her that he was expected to wake up sooner than Izuku would.

Maybe he'd woken up while she'd been out…

She knocked on the door to the room quietly and opened it, peering inside. To her disappointment, Katsuki was still asleep, but Mitsuki was sitting in a chair at his bedside. She glanced over her shoulder, spotting Momo, and gestured for her to come in.

Momo closed the door quietly behind her and walked over to the chair next to Mitsuki's. "How's he doing?"

"Better," Mitsuku replied. "He woke up for a bit late last night, but he just wanted something to drink and then fell back to sleep. Recovery Girl came by to treat his arm again, so he's probably regaining his strength now."

"…what did she say about his arm?"

"Well, he's got some rehabilitation ahead of him," the Bakugo matriarch admitted with a sigh. "His arm won't be capable of handling anything but small explosions for a while and the doctors have expressly forbid he use a full blast even with his costume's gauntlets. The recoil of whatever he did damaged his shoulder muscles as well as his arm. Until everything heals properly, it'll be light work only for his right arm."

"They don't think there's a risk of permanent damage?"

"Not this time. We were lucky."

Momo's head fell back against her chair in relief. "Good. That's…that's good…"

Mitsuku hummed in agreement. The pair of them were silent for a few minutes, but Momo kept fidgeting in her seat. It wasn't that sitting with Mitsuki was awkward, just…she felt guilty because, if she was being honest with herself…the reason Katsuki was in here at all was because she'd brought him to the villain hideout.

Mitsuki had been so kind to her, what with letting her come over to study at her home and visit her son while he was hospitalized. Momo felt like she had repaid her generosity by getting Katsuki hurt.

"Erm…Mrs. Bakugo?"

"Call me Mitsuki. Mrs. Bakugo makes me feel old," the woman chuckled.

"Mitsuki, then…Well, the thing is, I…I owe you an apology," Momo began hesitantly. "You see, I was the one who told Katsuki about where the villains were hiding. I made a tracking device and led him and the rest of my classmates there…We were going to try and find out if Izuku was okay, but then with everything that happened…Katsuki ended up getting hurt because I brought him out there in the first place. And I-"

"Save your breath, sweetie," Mitsuki interrupted her, leaning back in her seat. "I'm not upset with you. Actually, I should probably thank you for watching out for him."

"Eh?"

"Katsuki and Izuku have known each other since they were babies. Inko and I go way back, so the two of them grew up together. For the longest time, Katsuki's been the older brother figure between the two of them and he was always protective of Izuku. That side of him has only gotten more protective as time has gone on and Izuku's Quirk showed itself."

"It doesn't help that he was born with a powerful Quirk himself," Mitsuki sighed. "Being as smart as he is, it makes him reckless, impulsive, and aggressive. If people can't keep up with him, he just runs on ahead and leaves them behind without a second thought. It's made it difficult for him to make friends until recently. Being at U.A with you and the other students I think has been really good for him."

"When Izuku was taken from the camp, he was in shock for a while. But I was praying the heroes would find Izuku before Katsuki recovered, because once he did, I have no doubt he was going to try and find Izuku on his own. He would've gone after them without a second thought. So you taking him along and keeping him under control was probably the best-case scenario I could've hoped for."

Momo dipped her head, trying to avoid looking at the older woman's face. "He still ended up here…"

"If he'd gone on his own, I might've had to bury him."

She swallowed at those words. Mitsuki was probably right about that.

"What matters is that he's alive and Izuku is alive," Mitsuki said after a moment. "And the only reason they made it out is because you kept Katsuki from acting recklessly."

Momo's eyes lifted to Katsuki's bandaged right arm. "To a point."

"To a point," Mitsuki allowed with a smirk. "Little brat doesn't seem to have figured out yet that he's not invisible, but he's learning. He's even managed to learn some respect."

"What do you mean?"

"You, of course," the woman turned her smirk to Momo, who froze in surprise. "Katsuki doesn't just listen to anyone, you know. I'm not sure how you did it, but I think he legitimately respects you. Izuku was telling us about how his practical exam went at his house before the camping trip and that you were the reason he passed at all. Do you know what Katsuki said to that? As I recall, it was something like "yeah, 'cause she's a badass" or something along those lines."

Momo reddened slightly and Mitsuki took full notice. True to the Bakugo blood in her veins, her grin turned sly and her voice teasing. "You know, I do wonder if Katsuki's starting to have a thing for you since he seems to regard you so highly. And I have to wonder if the two of you have gotten any closer since that time I found you together at my house, hmm?"

Mitsuki cackled as Momo hid her face in her hands out of embarrassment, a full-on blush now blazing over her cheeks. The woman had Momo squealing as she smacked her shoulder good-naturedly. "I'm messing with you, sweetie! Well, mostly! Ahahaha!"

Momo wasn't even sure how to respond and when she tried, her words came out as a stuttered mess. It shouldn't even have gotten to her as much as it did, but Mitsuki was evidently just as good as her son when it came to pushing buttons, even if the buttons were different from what Momo was used to.

"Hehe..ohoho…" Mitsuki regained control of herself after a few moments, though she didn't stop grinning. "Okay, I've had my fun. Sorry about that, but I have to always have blackmail material to keep Katsuki in line at the house. As an apology for getting you all 'hot and bothered' as it were, how about I give you some blackmail material in exchange?"

"I-I-I think I'm o-okay, thanks!" Momo squeaked out, her face still burning cherry red.

"You sure? Even if the blackmail is Katsuki wearing an All Might onesie when he was three?"

Momo's thought process stopped for a few moments. Slowly, she began to consider that idea. Mitsuki only continued to grin at her, and her smile widened as she saw the gears turning in Momo's head.

She really shouldn't. Blackmail wasn't something she should seek out as an aspiring hero. But…maybe just to see the image?

A toddler Katsuki in an All Might onesie sounded…rather cute…

"…I'm listening," Momo replied in a small voice, trying not to sound too interested.

Mitsuki pulled her phone out, the sly grin stretching from ear to ear. Momo felt a little brighter on the inside.

* * *

Ochako guided Eri to a table in the hospital cafeteria, searching for a place to sit and eat. She'd gone up to see Izuku after meeting with Mr. Aizawa, but Izuku was still asleep and recovering from his second surgery. Inko had wanted to stay at her son's side, so when Eri expressed her growing hunger, Ochako had volunteered to take the girl to the cafeteria for lunch.

Inko had been grateful for that. Ochako just wanted to help the older woman though this difficult time. Izuku was her friend and she cared for him very much, but…he was Inko's _child_.

She wouldn't dare place her newfound feelings above the love of the boy's mother.

"Ochako!"

The teenager stopped in her tracks and glanced in the direction of the voice, which to her surprise, belonged to Mina. The pink girl was half-standing in her seat at a long table with several of the other 1-A students. "Over here!"

Ochako nodded and looked down at Eri, smiling. "Come on, Eri."

Eri merely followed her quietly. She was nervous around all of the people and she'd been down for a while since she wasn't allowed too close to Izuku while he was recovering. She missed the comfort of her guardian.

Mina was waiting for them, along with Eijirou, Kyoka, Tenya, Tsuyu, and Toru. Ochako blinked when she realized that sitting with her friends was Mandalay from the Pussycats and Kota.

"Mandalay!" Ochako exclaimed, taking a spot one seat away from Mina so that Eri could sit between her and the pink-skinned teen. Out of all of them, Eri was most familiar with Ochako and Mina, and she would be more comfortable near them than the others.

Mandalay smiled at Ochako. "Hey there. Did you come to see Izuku, too?"

"Yeah, but he's still not awake yet," the girl admitted. "He's getting better, though."

"I see," the older woman's smile became a little sad. "I'm happy to hear he's recovering, at least."

"We were just talking about the other Pussycats," Tsuyu informed Ochako. "Tora and Ragdoll got hurt in the Kamino incident."

"Are they okay?"

"Tora will be fine," Mandalay assured them. "He's always been a tough one. But Ragdoll…Speaking frankly, this is probably the end of her career as a hero. Something happened to her and her Quirk is no longer fit for use. Upon her release from the hospital, she'll be on indefinite leave of her duties as a hero."

"No way…" Eijirou clenched his fists.

"How'd she…I mean, is she…" Kyoka trailed off, concern in her voice.

Mandalay shook her head. "It's a shock for her. Why wouldn't it be? I'm told they're going to look into it and see what they can do, but for the time being, she's can't be on active duty."

Ochako swallowed hard. "Wh-what about Pixie-Bob?"

The woman smiled at that. "Actually, she woke up the other day from her coma. She'll be spending a while recovering, but the doctors said she'll pull through and be able to resume hero work in a few weeks."

Tenya let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that."

Mandalay turned her attention to Eri. "Ochako, who is this? Your sister?"

"Ah, no," Ochako shook her head quickly and smiled at the little girl, who ducked her head to try and hide from the sudden attention. She lifted a hand and set it on the girl's shoulder to calm her. "This is Eri. She's pretty much Deku's little sister."

Kota almost choked on his juice. "Huh?! They look nothing alike!"

"Kota!" Mandalay chastised when Eri cringed and tried to hide in Ochako's arm. The hero looked at Eri apologetically. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Kota can be a little…blunt sometimes. He didn't mean anything by it."

Eri nodded shyly, refusing to look them in the eye. Ochako rubbed her shoulder and Mina took a moment to gently ruffle her hair. Seeing her now, the students were reminded of just how dependent on Izuku she was. Without him or Inko around, or even Katsuki for that matter, she was reverting back to her shy, nervous personality she'd first displayed.

Mandalay pursed her lips, feeling guilty for how rattled Eri appeared to be. "Mmm…Would you mind if we went up to Izuku's room with you after lunch? Kota made a get well card for him."

Ochako smiled brightly. "I think that'd be okay. I'll have to ask Ms. Midoriya first, though. The doctors don't want a lot of visitors since he's still recovering from his last surgery."

Mina glanced at Ochako. "You said he's doing better, right? When do they think he'll wake up?"

"Maybe in another day or two," she replied, absently rubbing Eri's shoulder and back to help the girl settle. "I…I'll tell you later."

Mina looked down at Eri and then back up at Ochako, and the other teen nodded slightly. Mina took the hint and dropped the subject before turning to her lunch with a wide grin. "Well, let's dig in! Food's getting cold, you guys!"

* * *

After they'd all eaten and Eri was brought back to Inko (who had also agreed to let Mandalay and Kota come into the room to see Izuku), the girls pulled Ochako aside. Eijirou and Tenya decided to go and meet up with Shoto to see how All Might was doing before they checked on Katsuki and Izuku.

Ochako led her friends to a quiet stairwell she and Momo had found when they arrived at the hospital with Izuku and Katsuki after the Kamino Incident. Once the girls were sure they were alone, Mina faced her friend, who was leaning against the wall.

"Are you okay?"

"Not really, no," Ochako admitted, lifting a hand to rub her forehead. She shook her head a little. "I'm feeling a bit better, I guess. Momo and I had a good cry together and got a lot of this out of our systems, but…I haven't been sleeping well and I just want him to wake up."

"You guys really had a rough time out there," Tsuyu said, reaching out to take Ochako's other hand and squeeze it comfortingly.

"I still can't believe you guys went after Izuku like that," Kyoka exclaimed.

"Momo told us we were just going to see if we could find him and make sure he was okay," Ochako replied, closing her eyes and squeezing Tsuyu's hand back. "We were actually about to leave. The heroes showed up at the hideout and busted it wide open, but then…then Heat Viper showed up and that other crazy powerful villain was there and Deku appeared out of nowhere and then All Might and then Deku was- he was-"

"Breathe," Mina interrupted her gently, moving forward to envelop Ochako in a hug. Her friend was trembling. "Easy, there. We're here. Let it out."

"He was _screaming,"_ Ochako's voice cracked and she threw one of her arms around the pink girl's neck tightly, crushing her in a tight grip as she broke down and cried again. "Mina, _oh my god,_ _I thought he was dead_. He sounded like he was dying and there was _so much blood…"_

"Shh," Mina held her friend close with one arm and lifted another to run her fingers through Ochako's hair. Tsuyu hugged the hand she was holding to her heart while Toru and Kyoka just squeezed Ochako's shoulders. "Shh…"

They let Ochako cry, gently hushing her until she had calmed down enough to breathe, however shaky and uneven it was.

"I'm sorry," Ochako croaked out.

"It's okay," Mina told her. "This whole thing was…it was a lot. I can't imagine what you must've gone through. All of you have every right to break down and cry, okay? Eijirou told me that he met up with Tenya and Shoto and they both got teary, too. So don't apologize. Just let it out. We've got you."

Ochako sniffed and buried her face in Mina's shoulder. "You guys are so good to us."

"What are friends for?" Tsuyu asked with a smile. She squeezed Ochako's hand again and the other girl squeezed back.

"Izuku and Katsuki will be back on their feet before we know it, you know?" Toru added, pressing up close behind Ochako to sandwich her friend between herself and Mina. "They're gonna be okay. The scary part is over now."

"Just gotta wait until the two lazy bums wake up," Kyoka grumbled, though she was smiling.

Ochako managed a laugh, though it was watery and sounded gross to her. She took a few more moments to catch her breath before pulling back to rub the tears out of her eyes, her face and eyes red from all the crying. "Thank you, guys. I needed that."

"Anytime," Mina said honestly. Her smile turned into a grin that held a bit of mischief. "So…seeing as we have two sleeping beauties that need waking, shall we all go and see if any of us can wake them up with a kiss?"

Ochako's cheeks grew redder at the implication. "M-Mina, no!"

"You're right, we should have all the boys try, too!"

"MINA!"

* * *

Two more days passed by, during which Katsuki woke up and decided to rejoin the world of the living. He was still confined to his bed, but after regaining his strength, showed a healthy dislike for his confining hospital room with some choice vocabulary.

In other words, he was on the mend.

Momo and Shoto were going to see him again after having lunch with Shoto's sister, Fuyumi. The siblings had come up to the hospital to check in on Endeavor again, who was almost ready to leave. Momo had to admit, the number two hero was a really sturdy man. Even after getting pulverized by Heat Viper. If anything, the rage he felt at his loss made him recover that much faster.

The two of them were about to walk out of the elevator on Katsuki's floor when they heard an annoyed exclamation.

"That damn kid! He gets back on his feet and he's already causing trouble again!"

Momo blinked at the sight of a seething Mitsuki, a resigned Masaru, and a somewhat frantic nurse making their way towards the elevator.

Shoto took one look a them and sighed. "He left his room?"

"Uh-huh," Masaru groaned, rubbing his face stressfully. "We took our eyes off of him for five minutes to talk with his doctor in the hall and he just up and left."

Momo wasn't even surprise, just mildly irritated. "Izuku's room?"

"Yep," Shoto agreed, reaching for the elevator button to select Izuku's floor.

A short elevator trip later and they were following a storming Mitsuki down the hall towards Izuku's room, where, to no one's surprise, Katsuki was found. The teenager was leaning against the wall behind Inko, who looked a little worried about him being there in a hospital gown with a cast and brace on his right arm and shoulder. Eijirou was there too, keeping an eye on his friend, and Ochako had taken a seat next to Inko with Eri.

To Momo's surprise, All Might's skeletal frame was sitting in a chair on the other side of the bed beside Izuku. Her surprise wasn't vocalized immediately, however, seeing as Mitsuki saw fit to drive her knuckles into the top of Katsuki's head.

"You little brat! Don't you know better than to just run off when you're hospitalized?!"

Katsuki scowled and retorted instantly. "Piss off, old hag! I'll go where I want!"

"You don't get to talk back to me when you're all busted up like that! How'd you even find this room?!"

Eijirou held his hand up nervously. "S-sorry, he texted me about where it was and I let him know. I didn't think he'd actually sneak out and come here…"

Masaru shook his head. "It's fine, at least he's not wandering around yelling for directions…"

"All Might, what are you doing here?" Momo asked. "Is it okay for you to be up?"

"Not to worry, young Momo!" All Might gave him a thumbs-up. "I was given the all-clear yesterday! In fact, Mr. Aizawa and I came by to see Katsuki earlier this morning."

"Oh, you got chewed out too?" Shoto queried with a slight smirk at the explosive teen.

"Shut it," Katsuki grumbled, averting his eyes. Eijirou snorted in amusement. Apparently that was a yes.

"Mr. Bakugo, you really shouldn't be leaving your room without telling anyone," the nurse who had come with them chastised. "You're due for more pain medication in the next hour."

Katsuki just grunted. "I know, I know. I just wanted to check on him."

Masaru sighed and turned to the nurse. "We'll get him back to his room in a bit. If you have anything else you need to do, don't worry about us taking your time."

The nurse pursed her lips and nodded after a moment. "Don't let him do anything strenuous. He's not really clear to leave his room yet."

"I'm fine," the teenager retorted.

"You are _not_ fine," the nurse corrected, unfazed by the boy's attitude. "And if I have to bring you back to your room in an hour, I'll have your doctor bring a sedative should your parents permit it."

"You have my permission _now,"_ Mitsuki agreed immediately, scowling at her son. Katsuki sneered, but didn't dare question that she meant it.

The nurse left with one more glance at them, hurrying off to perform any other duties she had to attend to. Momo gave Katsuki a pointed look. "Weren't you supposed to be given the all-clear to leave your room later today?"

"It was going by too slowly."

"Of course it was," she sighed in exasperation, but wasn't really in the mood to argue with him. They were in Izuku's room and it already felt like they'd caused enough of a disturbance. Instead, Momo looked at Inko. "How is he?"

"Better," she admitted with a smile that was a little happier than the days prior. "The major wounds have all closed up properly, so it's just a matter of when he wakes up. After that, he'll be in rehab for a couple of weeks to make sure everything has healed correctly, and then he'll be able to attend school again."

All Might glanced up at the mention of school. "That reminds me, you kids are going to have letters sent to all of your parents in the next few days. U.A has been having some meetings regarding the security of the school and its students, so…there are going to be some changes in the upcoming semester."

Mitsuki raised an eyebrow. "What kind of changes?"

The former hero looked at her squarely. "Long story short, they want to convert to a boarding school and house the students in dorms on campus. The staff are going to be sending teachers to each of the students' homes in the next week to discuss the housing and permission of the parents. Given the current state of affairs in society and the attacks on the school…for security purposes, it's no longer practical for us to leave our students open to that kind of danger."

Inko frowned. "When was this decided?"

"This morning, actually," All Might admitted. "I had a video meeting regarding it last night before I left the hospital, but the principal just messaged us confirming the situation."

"A boarding school? Wait, like we'd all be living together?" Eijirou grinned excitedly. "That sounds awesome!"

Mitsuki pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Is gathering all the students at the school like that a good idea? I mean, I know that U.A's security is tight, but there's that villain on the news they're talking about with a warping Quirk. Would that even make a difference?"

"We're taking strict precautions against that kind of thing," All Might told her. "I'll be one of the teachers assigned to talking to the parents about it, but U.A has already taken measures to counter his Quirk. If he tries to get in again…well, he won't make it far. Let's leave it at that for now."

"I'll take your word for it, then," she decided. "For now."

The former hero merely inclined his head.

There was a silence that fell over the room naturally, as everyone was aware that the topic of U.A was done for now and they were with a recovering patient. And as they waited for another topic of conversation to come up, the quiet was broken by the best sound possible.

"…Mmm…"

All of the attention flitted over to the sleeping teenager immediately as his face scrunched up in a slight frown. He shifted in his bed, wincing somewhat and stopping the movement prematurely as he slowly opened up his drowsy, green eyes. "Muh?"

"Izu!" Eri squealed and Ochako had to restrain the little girl from jumping at the bedridden teen. Her lips curved up in a huge smile at the sight of Izuku slowly regaining consciousness and she squeezed Eri in a firm hug.

Masaru ducked out of the room to call a nurse while Inko leaned over the bed and squeezed her son's hand, her smile turning wobbly as she started crying. "Izuku, it's okay."

His gaze shifted over to her and he stared in confusion for a few moments. "Mom? What are…oww…"

Izuku winced at the dryness in his throat. His body had stayed hydrated through the tubes inserted into his body, but he hadn't had a drink since the raid on the bar began.

A bony hand grasp Izuku's shoulder on the opposite end of the bed and squeezed firmly, but gently. He twisted his head and blinked at the sight of All Might's skeletal frame, his mind still sluggish and unable to question why the man was in his true form.

"We got you back, kiddo," All Might told him gently. "You're safe."

Izuku managed a tired smile, though it looked like the effort exhausted him. "Kay…"

Mitsuki snorted. "He's not all there yet, huh?"

"Well, he just woke up. He's been out for almost four days, after all," Shoto said quietly, though he was happy to see his friend rejoin them. Eijirou nodded in agreement.

The doctor bustled into the room with Masaru behind him, causing everyone to shift about somewhat to give him space. Momo ended up on Katsuki's left side and glanced at his face. There was relief in his eyes and he looked tired all of a sudden, as though a great burden had been lifted off of his shoulders.

Moving as inconspicuously as she could, she slipped her right hand into his left and squeezed- a kind of silent way to let him know she had his back. Her lips twitched up into a small smile when he willingly squeezed back before their hands parted. He looked a little more relaxed after that.

As she watched the doctor inspect Izuku, Momo felt lighter than she had since the training camp ended on that dreadful night.

It felt like everything was going to be okay.

* * *

In the depths of the maximum security prison known as Tartaros, All for One found himself with plenty of time to lose himself in his own thoughts. Seeing as he was strapped up in a vault that meant even the slightest movement would have the guns trained on him, it wasn't like he had much else to do.

And yet, he was more than happy to simply think. It was a pastime of his, this kind of pondering. Being under the watchful eyes of his captors made no difference to him. Even if he had lost to All Might, he'd accomplished what he wanted.

The Symbol of Peace was dead. Even if All Might himself lived, the pillar of heroics was no longer there to support the world. Society was no doubt in a state of chaos.

Tomura was out there as well with his allies. Viper had escaped, too- he would no doubt be a suitable mentor for Tomura while All for One was in prison. And just as they had planned, All for One knew the next goal for Tomura would be to gather his allies and establish his dominance in the underworld.

Well, it wasn't going to be that easy- there were many challenges ahead of him. That was why he'd spent so much time grooming Tomura. But even with all that, there were no guarantees. There were still dangerous villains in the shadows who would leap at the chance to seize control of the underworld now that All for One was behind bars.

It wasn't just local villains his protégé would need to watch out for, either.

 _Be careful, Tomura. I've warned you before, but now more so than ever…you must be aware that there are other villains of my caliber out there, running the rest of the world. Without me, they'll no doubt make attempts to seize my territory. Given the circumstances further in the north…_

 _You might have to confront Baba Yaga soon._

* * *

 **A/N: Alright you guys, I've finally cut you all some slack and provided some well-earned fluffiness. Honestly, this is a messy chapter, but frankly I think it fits the mood given the aftermath of the last chapter.**

 **For those of you wondering why I didn't write in the All Might vs All for One battle, I refrained from doing so for two primary reasons: One, I don't want to spoil my anime-only readers too much. Two, it wasn't going to include a lot of canon differences, so it wouldn't have made much of a difference. Well, I say that, but Stain was kind of the same, so...ugh, you get the idea. You guys have been good about not spoiling Infinity War too much for everyone, so I'm not going to spoil those who haven't seen it yet on what is possibly the biggest fight of the series thus far. Moreover, if the end of this chapter hasn't made it clear, there are some real baddies still lurking in the underworld.**

 **That's all for now, just a lazy recovery chapter to make up for all the angst I put you through! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	31. New Game, New Rules

_Chapter Thirty One: New Game, New Rules_

"Okay, let's see what we've got here."

Izuku remained still, sitting on the edge of his hospital bed with his legs dangling over the side. His bare torso was covered in bandages, but they were finally removing them to see how he'd recovered from his latest treatment the day before.

A little more than a week had passed since the Kamino incident, and Izuku was finally being given permission to go home after this last checkup. Honestly, he was eager to get out of the hospital. Staying in Recovery Girl's office for a few hours was one thing, but staying in the hospital for days was starting to drive him crazy.

He wanted out, even if he couldn't do a lot of moving for another two days or so.

All Might and Inko stood by him, watching as the doctor carefully removed the bandage over his stomach to check the injury caused by the pipe. Izuku glanced down as the bandage came off and bit his lip. It had scarred over, soft pink tissue covering a rough circle just under his ribcage; a deceptively small reminder of his brush with death.

The doctor carefully pressed his fingers against the scar and looked up at Izuku's face. "Any pain?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's a little sensitive, but it doesn't hurt."

"I see. Stay there, let me check the one on your back now."

He walked around the bed and leaned over to remove the matching scar on Izuku's back, repeating the process before questioning the teen once more. Again, the wound was sensitive to the touch, but it didn't cause him any pain.

"Okay," the doctor walked back around to his front, grabbing a clipboard and jotting a few notes down. "Your arms next. Stretch your right in front of you please."

Izuku did as he asked, wincing at the fresh scars lining his arm. He'd busted up both of his arms during his fight against Viper, but his right arm especially had been royally screwed up when he drove a punch into Viper's Pyroclasm. It was starting to look so patchy, he jokingly compared it to Dabi's ragged skin in his mind.

The doctor asked him to perform a few simple stretched, questioning if he had any pain or loss of feeling. Admittedly, clenching his fist still hurt a bit, but he hadn't lost any feeling in his arms. After testing his left arm, which hadn't been quite as seriously damaged, the doctor sighed and jotted down a few more notes.

"I'm going to be blunt with you," he told Izuku. "Over the last few months, you've put your arms through some pretty serious injuries. Recovery Girl was able to heal them to some extent, but this time, they were on a whole different level. Your right arm, especially. If you put it through that kind of damage perhaps two or three more times, you'll have to live without functioning arms."

Izuku stiffened. The doctor looked at him steadily. "I'm not sure exactly what you've been doing with your Quirk, but every time you generate such destructive force, it has an effect like setting off firecrackers in your arms. This time around, it wasn't just your bones and your muscles that were badly affected, but your ligaments. The damage they took deteriorated them severely, and as you know, your ligaments are what hold your joints together. You understand where I'm going with this, don't you?"

He nodded shakily, fully understanding what the man was warning him of. The doctor seemed satisfied that his message had gotten across and glanced back down at his clipboard. "Recovery Girl has already performed as much treatment as she could. She was totally pissed with you for this- sounds like you've already been on the short end of her temper a bunch of times. Whether you recover fully from this is going to depend on your rehab. You'll have to strengthen the damaged ligaments again through repeated use, even if it hurts. That's going to decide whether you return to your original condition or not."

Izuku took a breath and nodded again a few more times. He closed his eyes to just process the information before he looked at the doctor again. "What about my stomach?"

"That's where you got lucky," the man said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at All Might. "As you're aware, All Might suffered a debilitating injury to his stomach some years ago that has severely affected his health. Compared to that, the wound you received was pretty small, even if the metal pierced all the way through you."

"Moreover, you were _extremely_ fortunate that Best Jeanist was there to stitch your injuries- both external and internal- with his fibers. It's not common knowledge, but Jeanist spent an extraordinary amount of time studying emergency treatment so he could act as an emergency doctor in instances like this. He even has the legal requirements needed to operate as a surgeon. He managed to keep your organs from suffering any further damage after you were removed from the scene, and after the multiple operations we put you through, you should make a full recovery. That being said, you need to tell your mother and teachers immediately if you feel any internal pain. We addressed everything, but there's always the small chance that something slipped by."

Izuku's shoulders slumped in relief. That had been his biggest worry, beyond anything else. He smiled at All Might. "Well…I guess we match now, huh?"

All Might snorted. "As long as you don't start spitting up blood and shrinking, I'm okay with that. Kind of."

Inko gave the two of them an exasperated look, but only sighed.

The doctor stepped out of the room for a moment and called to a nurse before looking back into the room while Izuku put a shirt on gingerly. "You'll be sent home in a wheelchair, and you aren't to leave it without help or perform strenuous activities until Recovery Girl gives you the all-clear. Other than that, have a good day, Mr. Midoriya. Don't be in a rush to come back, okay?"

Izuku smiled wryly. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Being wheeled into the apartment was a little weird for Izuku- he wasn't used to any of this.

But he was plenty used to hearing the pattering footsteps as Eri ran for the entrance with a squeal. "Izu! Izu's home!"

Izuku grinned and reached out to hug Eri before she could jump into his lap, although it was awkward since he was sitting in a wheelchair. "Hey, Eri!"

He pulled the girl into his lap and squeezed her gently, peering over her shoulder as Mitsuki ducked out of the kitchen with a smirk. "Well, that's a new look for you."

"It's a bit different, huh?" Izuku admitted, though he was happy to see her. Mitsuki waited until Toshinori wheeled Izuku into the living room before she leaned over to hug him.

"It's good to see you back home."

"Thanks," Izuku replied, his voice muffled in her shoulder.

Mitsuki pulled back and shouted over her shoulder. "Katsuki! Wake up and get in here!"

"I'm coming, old hag, I'm coming!"

The woman rolled her eyes. "He decided to crash in your room. Recovery Girl treated him again earlier today, so he's a bit tired and grumpy."

Izuku snorted. "He's always kind of grumpy, isn't he?"

"I can hear you, nerd," Katsuki growled as he stumbled out of Izuku's room, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He studied his friend's figure in the wheelchair and scoffed. "You alive?"

"I'm alive."

"Good."

Katsuki walked over and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it a few times with his good hand. "I didn't blow that jackwagon up for nothing, then."

Izuku's eyes dropped to his friends arm, which no longer bore a cast and brace, although it had surgical scars similar to his own arm. "How's the arm?"

"Annoying. I can't do much more than set off pop-its for a while," Katsuki muttered in irritation. He shrugged his shoulder like it felt uncomfortable and seemed to grimace somewhat.

"But it'll get better?"

"If you're asking if I'll be able to smack you around in hero training next time, the answer is yes."

"There's not gonna be a lot of 'smacking around' for either of you," Toshinori grunted, but his tone was humorous. He looked at the boys' mothers and seemed to consider something for a moment. "Would you two mind if I had a moment to talk with them? It won't take long- it's mostly…guy stuff."

Inko was okay with that, but she gave the boys a stern look before she left. "No secrets, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Izuku agreed.

"Eri, come with us so we can make lunch," Mitsuki leaned over to pluck Eri from Izuku's grasp. "I was about to make cookies. You can have some of the dough."

"Yesyesyes!"

It was universal knowledge that Eri loved sweets. If you ever needed to distract her, just find some sugar.

Izuku smiled after them fondly and then looked at All Might. "What's up?"

"Yeah," Katsuki took a spot on the couch and fell into it lazily. "Not like I'm not happy to see you or anything, but why'd you come here? Don't tell me you've got another lecture for me."

"Nothing like that, I think Aizawa chewed you out plenty," the former hero smirked, causing Katsuki to scowl. Toshinori took a seat in the chair next to the couch after turning Izuku's wheelchair to face them.

Toshinori was quiet for a few moments as he considered where to start. "Frankly speaking, this isn't actually about me. This is about you, Izuku."

Izuku blinked in surprise as the man went on. "Although Tsukauchi and I have talked to you about what happened while you were held captive by the villains, I…have a feeling there are some things you haven't told us. I thought you might be more comfortable talking about them when you were home and with people you cared about. This isn't me demanding answers, but I want you to know that you can tell us about anything that happened to you. Do you understand?"

Katsuki watched All Might for a few moments before his gaze slid over to Izuku. "Long story short, you're talking about that scar on Deku's neck, right?"

Izuku stiffened in his chair. Katsuki lazily crossed his arms and regarded his friend. "Dude, you tell me everything, anyway. I don't mind if you want to keep it to yourself, but it'd probably help if you got it off your chest, right?"

The teenager fidgeted for a few moments. "I…I'm not really sure what to say. It's…"

Toshinori studied him quietly. "Do you want to talk to your mother about it?"

"…I'm not sure."

"I don't want to rush you," Toshinori said gently. "And I'm not trying to guilt you into saying anything, either. But take it from me, Izuku, that keeping something bottled up can eat you alive from the inside out. You know that all of us are more than willing to help you carry whatever's weighing you down right now, don't you?"

Izuku bit his lip as he thought about it for a few more minutes in silence. He needed to tell them. He knew he did, but…it scared him.

…but how else could he possibly keep his promise if he didn't reach out to someone?

"Can we go to my room? And…I want mom there, too."

Toshinori nodded and glanced at Katsuki, who was up and already making his way for the kitchen as Izuku was wheeled down the hall to his room. He swallowed hard as he tried to find his courage. This…this wasn't going to be something easy to talk about with anyone, but even so…

He needed to talk. He wanted to, even if it scared the life out of him. Even if he was scared of how they were going to react.

A minute later, they were all in his room. Mitsuki and Eri were still in the kitchen cooking, but Inko had left immediately when her son asked for her.

Izuku was moved so he could sit on the edge of his bed, while Katsuki's took a spot on his desk chair and lay his chin on the back of the seat. Inko sat beside her son while Toshinori took a spot on the floor in front of Izuku.

Inko reached over to squeeze his hand. "Take your time, honey."

Izuku squeezed back and bit his lip, thinking about where to begin. He finally took a deep breath and glanced at his mother as he lifted one hand to shrug his shirt to the side, exposing the crescent-shaped scar. "I don't know if you saw this already, did you?"

"I did," Inko said, studying the mark with a slight frown. "The doctors thought it was a bite wound."

"It is."

Izuku went quiet for another moment. "When I woke up in the League of Villains' base, I tried to get close to one of them so I could use them as a way to escape later. She…her name is Himiko Toga. You know her, don't you, All Might?"

"I only saw her at the bar," he replied. "But I'm familiar with her criminal profile. She's wanted for multiple murders and is believed to have some kind of mental illness, given that she's so bloodthirsty at such a young age. She's barely any older than you or Katsuki. Unfortunately, we don't have much history on her. Her family didn't leave a lot of records behind them and to our knowledge, both of her parents are dead."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded his head. "I…she definitely scared me at first. She's got this fixation on blood and if she isn't satiated, she…she becomes psychopathic. When I figured that out, I..tried to get her on my side by…by giving her my blood."

Inko made a strangled sound, but Izuku didn't want to stop talking. "Getting her to trust me wasn't hard once I did that, and I'm pretty sure that if it'd gone on long enough, she would've helped me escape, but I…I figured out something important. Her fixation on blood- it's…it's some kind of coping mechanism. If she doesn't have it, she becomes more and more mentally unstable until she can't contain herself and she turns into a psychopath again. She didn't tell me how she got that way, but she said if she had blood, then she could control herself and wouldn't kill anyone. We…kind of made a truce like that- she wouldn't kill people if I kept her mentally stable with my blood."

"I think it's something that can be treated at a hospital, but she knows she's gone too far by killing people and that she'd be locked up for the rest of her life. I know she's a killer no matter what, but when she was satiated, she was just like any other girl and she was scared and- and-"

"Stop," Toshinori ordered firmly, looking at the boy with steady eyes. "Breathe."

Izuku did as he was told and he just now realized that he was shaking. Inko was gripping one of his hands tightly and he squeezed back, swallowing hard to try and calm himself. He was quiet for a few moments as he regained control and finished his confession.

"I can save her," he said quietly. "She _wants_ to be saved. That's why…before the heroes came to save me, she…she said that this-"

His free hand rose to touch the scar on his throat. "-that this was…it was like her promise that she wouldn't kill. For me, and…and I gave her a mark like it in the same place, to promise I would save her."

Inko's face went sheer white in horror as she realized what had happened between her son and this villain. "You let her in."

"She can be helped!" Izuku insisted, his jaw clenching from nerves. "She just- I know she's done a lot of bad things, but if she gets treatment, then- then maybe she can live a normal life and-"

"Izuku."

He glanced at All Might and the older man shook his head, his expression grave. _"No."_

"She can! You just don't-"

"Know her? No, I don't," he admitted, but he did not waver. "But I want you to think hard about this. Even if she can receive treatment, you said it yourself, she'll be locked up for the rest of her life. There is _no_ escaping that fact. Whatever she went through…I'm sure that it had to have been something terrible. I won't deny that. Something certainly happened to make her this way and whatever it is, I regret that she couldn't be saved from it."

Toshinori took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "But no matter how hard her life has been, no matter how badly she wants to be saved, she has killed people. Could you face those families and tell them the person who took away their loved ones deserves to be free? Because she couldn't help herself? True, she might have been brought up in circumstances that made her this way, but that doesn't excuse her actions. You know that. If I asked you about any other villain, I know for a fact you would give me the right answer."

"But…" He protested, his head falling forward. All Might was right. He was right and Izuku knew it and for once, he wished that he wasn't.

Toshinori shook his head, his eyes a little sad. "The only reason you're arguing for her sake is because you let her get close. You saw something good in her, maybe what little good is left, and that wonderful, big heart of yours convinced you that you could save her from everything that's happened."

"We're not gods. We're only human," he went on. "Including me. Even in my prime, there were people who needed my help somewhere and I couldn't reach them. It sucks. I know it sucks and it will drive you crazy to know that someone needs your help, but that's just how the world works. This job…we try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everyone."

Toshinori reached up with one hand to cup the boy's cheek, wiping away a stray tear that had escaped his eyes. "If you want to save her, the best we can do is get her to a mental hospital. She'll stay there for the rest of her life for her crimes, but that is the best we can do. There is no washing off the blood on her hands. No matter how…attached you became to her in your captivity, I know you understand that."

"I know," Izuku struggled, trying not to cry. "I know. I just…"

"Did you think Viper could be saved?"

Izuku froze and Inko whipped her head up at Katsuki, almost glaring at him in disbelief that he would bring that up. Katsuki didn't waver. His mouth was set in a line. "You sure didn't look ready to save him at the Kamino Ward."

"I…" Izuku swallowed. "No. I don't think he can. He's…he doesn't want to be saved. That's the difference. Himiko-"

"-she wants help," Katsuki interrupted. "But let's say Viper wanted help, would you think he didn't deserve to go back to prison?"

The teenager on the bed squeezed his eyes shut and forced his answer out. "No. He…he's done too much. And…so has Himiko."

Inko pulled Izuku into her arms and just held him against her, burying her face into her son's hair.

Toshinori sighed and pat Izuku's back gently. The teenager looked at him with teary eyes and a wobble in his voice. "I just wanted to help her. She…"

"She put her trust in you," Toshinori finished softly. "I know."

* * *

After Izuku came clean about his connection to Himiko, Toshinori and Katsuki left the room. Inko decided to stay for a little longer and help calm her son down- he was crestfallen and a little despondent about what had happened.

She hugged him close to her side and stroked his hair like she used to when he was a little boy, the way she did to put him to sleep. Izuku was quiet except for the occasional sniffling, but he'd stopped crying. He just looked tired now.

Inko placed a kiss on his head. "Thank you for being honest with us."

"I just…I couldn't think of a way to help her on my own," he croaked. "I knew it was a long shot, but I still just…I hoped…"

"I know," Inko soothed, smiling a little sadly. She pursed her lips for a few moments as she considered something. "Sweetie?"

"Mm?"

"This might be a little awkward to ask," she began hesitantly. "Did you…do you like her?"

"I…" he trailed off, uncertainly. He knew what she was asking- did he like Himiko in a…in a romantic sense. Honestly, he had no idea. He didn't know the first thing about that stuff. He knew there were some things he liked and things that he didn't, but…

"I don't know," he admitted to her. "Maybe?"

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

He halfheartedly shrugged in her grasp, letting his head loll into the curve of his mother's neck. Izuku thought about it for a few minutes. "It's…I mean…I really don't know. At first, I thought she was completely crazy. It freaked me out. When Himiko…when she hasn't had any blood, she's…she's dangerous. That was part of why I let her take my blood, so…she wouldn't be."

"When she's calm, when…when her condition is stable, she's a totally different person. I could see it in her eyes. She's more open and…she can think clearly. When she's like that, she's not all that bad to be around. She's kind of quirky and random, but she's not psychopathic and she just…she's normal. She likes to tease people, but she's also kind of nervous. I…I had to stop Viper from attacking her once and I think she was really grateful for that. She said that no one had ever protected her before."

He went silent for a bit, enjoying the way Inko continued to run her fingers through his hair. It helped to calm him, and Izuku would be lying if he said it didn't make him feel a little bit sleepy.

"If she was able to behave normally all the time," he eventually said. "I think you'd like her. She can be a little funny and kind of hyper. She likes your cooking."

Inko looked down at him in surprise. "She what?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I kind of had to cook once while I was there. I made omelets and she tried it and…well…"

Inko raised an eyebrow as his cheeks flushed. "And?"

"She-shesaidmarryme."

His mother actually snorted in laughter as she picked that rushed sentence apart and Izuku hid his face in his hands. "D-don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Inko managed to stop herself after a moment. She took a breath and stroked his hair some more. "What else?"

"Um…" Izuku squirmed uncomfortably. "She…she-she's kind of pretty?"

"Kind of?"

He blushed further and averted his gaze to the floor. "W-well…when her hair is down, uhh…ah-she's really pretty. Really…really, pretty."

He paused and swallowed hard. "I think…I think I like Himiko. When she's normal, anyway. The psychotic killer part, definitely not, but…when she's mentally stable…"

"When she's behaving like a normal girl," Inko interjected. "You like that side of her."

"I guess?" His face felt so, so hot. "I don't know, I've never- I mean, I kind of think the same around-"

He cut himself off and slammed his jaw shut, but Inko raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

 _Crap,_ she heard him.

"A-a different person in my class," he allowed meekly. "B-but Himiko is the only one who…who got so close. I think that might be the difference…"

"Hmm…" Inko considered that for a few moments and pursed her lips. "I think…I think you do like her, or at least the part of her that isn't so…villainous. But I also think a lot of that is because you were a hostage and that you were looking for a way to escape the villains. It's easy to think your feelings are stronger than they really are in that kind of situation. I'm not sure exactly how you feel- only you can know that for certain. And understanding what you feel comes with experience."

"But if you want my opinion," she went on. "I think you _are_ attracted to her. I think you found something in her that you really like. You've never been the kind of boy that just gets attached to every pretty girl. I raised you to be smarter than that. So I believe that you do have some affection for her, but Izuku…I'm not telling you this to pine after her. I'm telling you this so that you might learn a bit more about yourself, okay?"

She shifted away some and then lifted her hands to frame her son's face, looking him in the eyes with a sad smile. "I know better than anyone that can't give your heart to someone if they aren't good for you, no matter how much you might love them. Even if you might have a romantic inclination towards Himiko…it wouldn't end well. I think you know that, and it's confusing you on the inside because you have all these different feelings about her."

"I know it's too much to tell you to get over it and expect you to do so just like that," she continued softly, stroking his cheeks. "That's part of being a teenager and figuring yourself out. You're going to have your heart broken sometimes, that's just life. But if you ever aren't certain of something, or you need to talk, you can always come to me, no matter what it's about. I want you to know that, sweetie. The last thing I want for you is to live your life out with regrets."

One of her hands trailed down to touch the scar on his neck and she studied it for a few moments in silence. "I love your big heart, Izuku. I love that you saw that broken girl and found something in her that was good. But you have to understand that no matter what you might feel for her, no matter how much you think she can be saved…that she has to answer for what she's done. Even if you were to someday fall in love with her, you wouldn't be happy. I think we can both agree I know what that's like, right?"

Izuku nodded and leaned his cheek into her palm, his eyes tired. "I know. I wish…I wish things could be different, but…"

"I know," Inko murmured, smiling at him sweetly. She pulled him into another hug and pat his back gently. "Now, this is your mother being biased and politely requesting that you please don't bring home a serial killer girlfriend and instead try your luck with whoever this girl- or guy- in your class is."

That got a laugh out of him and he nodded. She kissed the top of his head softly. "I love you, honey."

"I love you too, mom," he murmured, his voice muffled in her shoulder.

They went quiet for a while, simply calming one another with their presence. The way they always had, all of Izuku's life. It was weird to think that before long, that was all going to change.

"Did you and All Might already talk about the dorms?" Izuku asked her.

"We did. I agreed."

It kind of surprised him, honestly. Inko wasn't exactly a helicopter parent, but she was definitely extremely protective over her son, and he'd actually expected her to fight him living at U.A.

"I don't like it," she confessed. "I don't like any of this. But…the truth is, as long as Hisashi is out there, I think he's going to keep trying to get you on his side. And if this latest incident has told me anything, it's that you have to learn how to defend yourself from him. I can't just take you out of U.A and enroll you in a normal high school- it'll just make it easier for the villains to take you. Right now, as much as I hate to say it, U.A is the safest place for you."

Izuku nuzzled closer to her. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for her to agree to that- to send him away so soon after he'd almost been killed. To know that the only way for him to be safe was if he was training to fight people like Hisashi.

"It's not like I'll be alone," Inko said after a moment to try and soothe some of his worries. "Eri will be staying with me. She'll be taken to U.A twice a week from now on with Toshinori."

"I'll call you every day," Izuku promised.

"Texts every day, calls every two days," Inko corrected. "I don't want to smother you. I want you to enjoy this, okay? Have fun with your friends, Izuku. Don't worry about us."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

In the dark room of a building hidden away from the rest of civilization, the League of Villains were resting together. Although it had been over a week since the events that unfolded in the Kamino Ward, they, like the rest of the world, were only just starting to recover from it all.

Tomura turned a card in his hand slowly, staring at the king of spades intently. The room was quiet, but that was fine with him- he just wanted to think. That tended to be easier when there weren't a bunch of noisy people around him.

Magne, Dabi, Twice, Spinner, and Compress were all in the room with him, each of them up to their own activities. Some were eating, others sharpening their weapons, and others merely tried to sleep. It was rather peaceful, Tomura thought to himself with no small amount of boredom.

He wasn't overly eager to pick a fight right now, but he didn't want to sit in here and rot away, either.

The peace was broken by Kurogiri warping into the room. Tomura eyed the gaseous villain with a slight twitch of his eyebrow. Somehow, Kurogiri always wound up wearing some perfectly kept suit, despite the fact that they were literally on the run and hiding in the dark like rats in a sewer.

At least some things never changed.

"I've returned," Kurogiri announced quietly.

"So?" Tomura prompted, placing his card flat on a table and looking at his ally fully. "What did Viper say?"

"He intends to spend some time trying to contact the other Chimeras. It would seem he's looking for one in particular, but I'm unsure how long it will take to locate her. He seemed rather frustrated by the prospect of seeking her out."

"Big surprise, even Teacher thought she was a pain in the ass to keep up with," Tomura muttered in annoyance. He picked up a different card- the queen of hearts- and eyed it with disdain.

"I'm sure he would have used the word _challenging_ instead, but that was the entire purpose of her being created," Kurogiri pointed out, walking over to the table to sit across from Tomura. The villain glanced around curiously. "Where is Himiko?"

"Still in the back room," Tomura grunted, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Her arm was killing her and she was in a bad mood."

"I'll get her more painkillers and fresh bandages," the gaseous villain sighed. "I'll be safer trying to get close to her than the rest of you will."

Magne snorted and looked up at them. "That's an understatement. I can't believe she stabbed Viper as soon as we got here."

"What do you mean 'stabbed'?" Dabi scoffed, not lifting his head from where he lay against the wall. "She totally tripped and barely scratched him. Himiko came out of that way worse than he did. She was lucky he was still in shock or he might've done worse than burn her arm a little."

"Indeed," Kurogiri said dryly.

"Is it really okay to still have her around?" Dabi wondered aloud. "I thought she was a little more normal when Izuku was around, but now she's a total psycho again. She could kill us in our sleep."

Tomura squinted at him. "It's fine, we'll just put her bloodlust to good use on someone else. I want her to stick around- she's got a connection to Izuku now and I think he can be brought over to our side."

"Even after Viper almost killed him?" Spinner held one of his blades in front of his face and studied it closely. "You're optimistic."

"He always hated Viper, that hasn't changed. The important thing is he wants to save Himiko, or whatever. So she stays. Don't go trying to kill her unless I say otherwise."

Kurogiri nodded and stood up to walk to the cabinets. "I'll bring her some pain medication now. If nothing else, she needs to know this is a safe haven for her. You can't falsify that kind of trust, not in our situation."

"At least Viper isn't around to piss her off right now," Magne chuckled. She glanced down as Twice (who had been asleep the whole time) snored excessively loudly and kicked him awake. "Will you quit that obnoxious snoring?"

"What are you talking about?! I'm definitely snoring!" Twice retorted, groaning as he was rudely brought back to the waking world.

Kurogiri sighed and took the pain medication and bandages to the back room, carefully opening it and peering through the door into the dark room.

"Himiko?" He called softly, glancing around until he spotted her figure lying in the corner of the room with her back to him.

He made his way inside and closed the door, flipping on the dim lights to see a bit better. Turning the lights on prompted the girl to growl like an animal.

"Turn. Them. Off."

"I cannot treat you if I cannot see you," Kurogiri said patiently as he carefully walked over to her.

"I'm gonna stab you if you touch me."

He believed her, but he was undeterred. "Must we do this again?"

"Go away! I'll bleed you dry!"

Kurogiri stopped halfway to her and considered something for a few moments. He wasn't sure if this was going to piss her off more or make her a little more easy to deal with, but…it was the only shot he had.

"I thought I would inform you of Izuku's current condition."

The girl stiffened and she twisted her head to glare at him over her shoulder. Kurogiri watched her warily, seeing the barely-restrained bloodlust in her glowing, catlike yellow eyes. A teenager like her shouldn't have been able to make his spine shiver, but she did, although he hid it from her piercing gaze.

"I'm listening."

"He's expected to make a full recovery," Kurogiri continued, aware that he was balancing on a knife's edge (quite literally) with her extremely thin temper. "He should be leaving the hospital soon, and will be back at school to continue his training in a matter of weeks. I should also inform you that U.A will apparently be converting to a boarding school, so he'll be living on campus from now on."

Himiko's eyes narrowed and she turned away back to the wall, falling silent for a few moments. "…that's going to make seeing him a pain…"

"Well, if our sources are correct, his class will be taking an exam to obtain Provisional Hero Licenses by the end of August. It'll be held at the Takoba National Stadium. I don't recommend you to actually make contact with him there, but perhaps you could merely look out for him?"

Her body stilled and Kurogiri waited for her to respond. Himiko was difficult to predict when she was in a more psychotic mood like this, but…he hoped he hadn't made a mistake by telling her that information.

"…I want to think about it," Himiko eventually said to him, her voice a little calmer.

"May I treat your wound while you think?"

She didn't respond verbally and just sat up, stretching her right arm out. Kurogiri carefully closed the distance to them and knelt behind her, gingerly pulling up her sleeve to reach the burn that stretched from her bicep to her elbow. She hissed at him when he removed her old bandages, but didn't attack him.

He dryly thought it was like treating an irritable and very awake tiger.

Himiko ignored Kurogiri for the most part as the villain treated her injury, but she had her switchblade out in her left hand, flicking the knife open and casually flipping it about between her fingers with exceptional skill. It helped her focus when she needed blood- the reassurance that she could get blood whenever she wanted to with the slightest graze.

She hadn't had any since she last saw Izuku and her psychotic temperament was starting to get the better of her once again. As she gazed at the glint of her knife in the low light, her lips curved up into a crazed grin.

 _Izu~_

* * *

Izuku smiled to himself widely as Eri practically threw herself into his bed for the night with a happy squeal, a fresh set of pajamas keeping her little body comfortable. He would've been lying if he said he hadn't missed her in the hospital- missed how much he enjoyed snuggling with her.

He reached over to his desk and turned the All Might nightlight on, then switched off his desk lamp so the room became dark enough to sleep comfortably. Eri crawled up the bed so she could wrap her little arms around his neck and cuddled up close to her protector, smushing her round cheeks against Izuku.

He raised one of his hands to stroke her hair, and another booped her nose, causing her to giggle. "You're being silly again!"

"Who's the silly one, here?" Izuku snickered, leaning down to rub her nose with his own in a cheesy eskimo kiss that had the little girl giggling even more.

He hugged Eri close to him and pulled the blankets over them, settling his head on the pillow for the night. Eri closed her eyes for a few minutes, falling quiet faster than she normally did. It wasn't uncommon for the two of them to just talk back and forth until Eri went to sleep, because she liked to spend time with Izuku.

"Izu?"

"Hmm?"

"I missed you."

Izuku's smile became soft and he ran his fingers through her hair gently. "I missed you too, Eri."

Her big, red eyes opened again so she could stare at him. Izuku regarded her with a slightly concerned frown; the usually innocent light he was so used to seeing had faded a bit, and there was a hint of the fear he'd seen so much of when he first met her.

"Izu?"

"Yes?"

"…if you're gone, will the bird people get me again?"

Ah.

Izuku shook his head and clutched the little girl closer to him, squeezing her firmly, but gently. "They're never going to hurt you again. I'm not going anywhere."

"But what if-"

"Shh," Izuku pulled back to look at her face and smiled at her reassuringly. "You're safe, Eri. I'm not going to go anywhere. I know that what happened a week ago was scary- it scared me, too. But I'm ok, alright? I'll always protect you."

Eri nodded, but she still seemed a little uncertain and scared. Izuku leaned down and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head, pouring out all the affection and care that he could in that little gesture.

"I love you, Eri," he murmured softly, bringing delight to her eyes again.

She snuggled up against him a little more tightly, a little more happy than before. Izuku bundled her close to his body, soothing her with gentle strokes until the warmth of his body lulled the small girl back to sleep.

And looking down on her in that moment, at the utter trust and love she held for him, in how much she depended on him, Izuku knew he would do anything to keep her safe. As he fell asleep, he wondered if his swelling protectiveness of Eri, which had steadily grown from the moment he saved her, was how it felt for a brother to want to protect his little sister, or for a father to protect his daughter.

It was a fierce love, indeed.

* * *

About a week later, many of Izuku's things had been removed from his room and shipped to U.A, awaiting him at the boarding school. The room didn't look terribly different, as Inko had gotten Eri new sheets and some simple decorations she'd picked out- it was pretty much her room, now.

Because Izuku was moving out. It was time to start life in the dorms.

* * *

 **A/N: Slightly shorter chapter in between arcs, time to start the dorm life, guys! Look forward to hilarity, fluff, and some awesome training stuff in the upcoming chapters! Let's enjoy the school-life vibes once more! Plus Ultra!**

 **On another totally (well not totally) unrelated note, I had an idea. It was very random and to be honest, I already made one of these things and I liked it, so let me know what you think. I'm toying with the idea of making a short series on AO3 for Viridescent that is basically "anime openings/endings" that I've written out for you to enjoy along with the music. It's corny, cheesy, and totally unnecessary, but I thought it might be a fun way for you guys to get further into the story and perhaps guess at future spoilers for the newer arcs?**

 **Let me know your thoughts on that and the chapter! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	32. Enter the Dorms!

_Chapter Thirty Two: Enter the Dorms!_

Nezu stood in his office by the windows overlooking the newly constructed dorms as the sun began to douse them in light. He sipped on his coffee, pondering their decision to have the students living on campus in light of recent events.

 _Our decision to convert to a boarding school was not just to ensure the students' safety, he thought to himself,_ carefully watching his coffee swirl in the cup. _With the attack on the training camp, it's indisputable now that there is a traitor in our ranks. This is also being done for the purpose of probing for that traitor._

 _Moreover is the alarming concern of these Chimeras Izuku told us of in the hospital. For All for One to have created not just Heat Viper, but a number of dangerous criminals…we must remain vigilant and keep all eyes alert for them. We have no idea what the other five are capable of. It's imperative now that we identify the traitor in our ranks before they can seize an opportunity to call another attack on our school. It pains me to turn doubtful eyes on not just my teachers, but also my students…but my position demands it._

 _With All Might no longer able to fight, society itself is more worried than it has been in decades. And the villains will without doubt raise their heads again before long to strike us once more. At any rate, right now what we need the most is to shift our momentum to that of a "rising up" movement. If nothing else, we must ensure our students are directed to a bright, hopeful future._

* * *

"If I text you, please respond right away," Inko told her son as Toshinori started to wheel him out of the house. "And make sure you're eating three healthy meals a day."

"I will," Izuku promised, smiling at her.

Inko sighed and returned the smile, looking a little stressed despite it. "Take care of yourself, sweetie. Toshinori, you too."

"Not to worry!" Toshinori saluted with a grin and a slight amount of blood dripping from his mouth.

Eri walked over to Izuku and gave him a big hug, squeezing him tightly. "I'm gonna miss you, Izu…"

"Hey, it's okay," Izuku hugged her back. "I'll see you next week for your lessons at U.A, alright? I'll video chat with you and mom tonight, too."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Toshinori glanced down at his watch. "I don't want to be the one to cut this short, but…"

"It's okay, you two should really get going, or you'll be late," Inko said with some reluctance. She reached for Eri and gently pulled the girl back to her side, both of them waving their boys out of the apartment. "Have a good day!"

"Bye-bye, Izu!"

* * *

Izuku watched with some minor annoyance as Toshinori opened the passenger door and got the wheelchair out. "I'm pretty sure I can walk now. Just saying…"

"Until Recovery Girl says you can walk, you'll be moving around in the chair," Toshinori told him sternly, unfolding the chair and helping Izuku into it. "That's why I brought you in early. If she's says you're fine, then you're fine, but you and I are already on a short leash with her."

He kind of wanted to protest, but Izuku kept his mouth shut. He knew that Recovery Girl was probably one of the worst people to piss off at U.A.

Old people were terrifying when they were mad.

Toshinori wheeled him to the nurse's office, where Recovery Girl was waiting and already grumbling as soon as they came in.

"First day back and you're already here, eh?" She scoffed good-naturedly. "Alright, let's see where we're at."

They moved Izuku to one of the beds, so he was sitting up with his legs over the side. Recovery Girl asked him to remove his shirt and took a few minutes to examine the scars and healed wounds from his latest misadventure.

She tapped the scar on his stomach lightly and looked at his face. "Any pain?"

"No, ma'am," Izuku confirmed, shaking his head.

"And your arms?"

"They feel good."

She nodded and stepped back a bit. "Alright, let's see if we can get you on your feet. Be careful, since you haven't done any walking for a while, your legs are going to be a bit weak."

Izuku slowly lowered his feet to the floor as his body left the bed, gingerly putting weight on them to test their strength. They did feel weak and shaky, so he leaned against the bed for support and waited until he felt a bit more comfortable.

"Step towards me," Recovery Girl instructed.

He did as she asked, moving a bit unevenly towards the old woman, but he was able to keep his balance well enough.

They went through a few simple exercises, over the course of which Izuku managed to regain some of the strength in his legs. He was still a little weaker than he would've liked, but it was something he could deal with.

Recovery Girl typed a few things into his medical records on her computer and called to him and Toshinori over her shoulder. "Alright, you're clear to leave the chair, but keep it with you in case your legs get weak again."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now go meet up with your class and get moved in, I don't want to have to see you kids until the first day of the semester, you hear?"

Izuku blinked at her curiously. "The first day?"

Toshinori coughed lightly. "We'll talk about that later. For now, let's get you to the dorms. Aizawa is probably already waiting for you and your class."

* * *

Whoever did construction for U.A were seriously miracle workers, Izuku thought as he stared up with wide eyes at the enormous dorm building they'd be staying in. The dorms had been constructed a five minute walk from the main education facility itself over the course of the last two weeks, ever since the boarding school proposal had been approved.

Heights Alliance, or so it had been dubbed by the U.A staff, was their new home. The building they were staying in looked like a mansion, with a big 1-A plastered on the front of it above the "Alliance" sign hanging over the doors.

"Dude, it's huuuuuuge!" Rikido yelled, eyes bulging at the size of the building.

Mina was practically bouncing up and down in excitement. "We're so lucky! This rocks! We get to live in a mansion, baby!"

Hanta glanced over at his friends with a large grin. "Looks like everyone got permission to stay, right?"

"Just barely!" Toru exclaimed. "My parents really fought it because I got messed up by the gas…"

Aizawa scanned the ranks of his students to make sure all of them were present and finally grunted. "Alright, all of you settle down. First of all, the most important thing is you've all gathered here safely. With everything that's happened, we're all fortunate to be back at U.A. I'm glad you're all in my care once again."

"You too, Mr. Aizawa," Tsuyu piped up, a frown on her face. "After seeing that interview on TV, I thought they might really not let you come back to teach at U.A. It made me upset."

"Me too," Kyoka agreed.

The tired-looking hero shrugged. "I'm as surprised as you, but it's probably due to the circumstances following the Kamino Ward event. A lot of things have been overlooked to some degree because of that battle and All Might's sudden retirement.

"Now then, I'm going to give you all a quick briefing regarding the dorms, but first thing is first," his eyes became stern as he glanced at five of his students in particular. "I've already given a few of you a lecture for acting recklessly, but let me say this one more time; none of you have your Provisional Hero Licenses yet. If I find out you've been acting on your own like some certain people here did, I'll have you expelled as punishment. As for those of you who are currently on my shit list, you'll be in charge of cleaning duty in the dorms for the next two weeks."

"Yes, sir," Ochako said with a small voice. Mina threw an arm around her friend's neck playfully to brighten her spirits some.

"You heard the man," Eijirou elbowed Katsuki's side with a slightly concerned smile.

"Bite me, shitty hair," Katsuki muttered, though he didn't challenge Aizawa.

Aizawa turned and led the way into the dorms. "Alright, smile and look alive, kids. Time for the grand tour and all that jazz."

They made their way into the common room, excitement getting the better of them once again. Aizawa stopped in the lounge and let them inspect the enormous room while he explained things. "There's one building for every class, and each building is divided into two wings for boys and girls. This first floor is common space, though. The dining area, baths, and laundry facilities can be found here."

"It's pretty! It's spacious! There's a bunch of sofas!" Mina squealed, bouncing with uncontrollable energy as she spotted a pair of large couches around a table on the left side of room, close to a large television and with numerous plush seats.

Hanta looked through the glass to the other side of the building and whistled. "Check it out, there's even a courtyard!"

"SO IT REALLY IS A FREAKIN' MANSION!" Ochako screamed, her eyes comically big as she staggered from the sheer luxury of the first floor.

There were four tables close the kitchen for studying and eating, each with five chairs. The kitchen itself had everything a cook (or hungry teenagers) could hope for, from cooking utensils and appliances to large cabinets for storing tons of snacks. Izuku and Rikido went to go check that out immediately while the rest of their class explored the new space for a few minutes.

"Did I hear that right?" Minoru muttered to himself, slightly drooling. "The baths and laundry areas are shared space? Somebody pinch me."

He froze as Katsuki loomed over him from behind and growled, explosions popping off in his left hand. "Don't be a dumbass, of course they aren't. Don't go ruining our first day here with your pervy schemes, grape."

"Sir, yes sir!" Minoru squeaked fearfully.

Katsuki still had one good arm and that was all the weapon he needed to strike fear into any P.A.L in the vicinity, dammit.

Aizawa regained their attention by pulling out several sheets of paper, each with a floor number and names designated on the rooms lining them. "Listen up. Your rooms are on floors two and above. On each floor, there are two groups of four rooms; half for boys and half for girls, up to the fifth floor. You each get your own private room. Each comes with an AC unit, a bathroom, a refrigerator, and a closet. Oh, you each have a veranda, too. It's quite the luxurious space."

Izuku studied the layout of the floor with interest. It seemed he was on the second floor, along with Minoru, Yuga, and Fumikage. The girl side of the second floor was actually vacant. The third floor would house Koji, Denki, Tenya, Mashirao, Kyoka and Toru. The fourth floor was home to Mezo, Katsuki, Eijirou, Ochako, and Mina. The fifth floor had the rest of their class- Rikido, Shoto, Hanta, Momo, and Tsuyu.

"The luggage we had each of you send beforehand has already been delivered to your rooms," Aizawa went on. "Spend the rest of today getting your things unpacked and settling in. Tomorrow, I'll give you all an explanation of how things are going to work from here on. That's all. You're dismissed!"

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Izuku flopped onto his bed with a sigh of relief after he finished unpacking his stuff and decorating his room. It had taken him a couple of hours to get it done. He was tired from all the exertion; the time he'd spent in the hospital followed by being in a wheelchair had really depleted his energy, but he felt rejuvenated somehow now that he was able to move independently once again.

No sooner had he made himself momentarily comfortable did he hear a knock on his door. Unwilling to get up, he lifted his head and called to whoever was on the other side. "Come in!"

The handle turned and the door was pushed into the room as Ochako peeked her head in, catching Izuku off-guard. She grinned at him widely. "Mind if I have a look?"

"S-sure," he stammered, sitting up in his bed.

Ochako walked in, glancing around curiously and spinning in a circle. She snorted at the sight of the various posters and action figures of All Might lining the room. "All Might left and right, eh?"

"W-well, you know," Izuku lifted his hand to scratch the back of his head nervously, his face flushing slightly from embarrassment. "I really admire him…sorry if it's kinda geeky…"

"Don't apologize for being you," Ochako chastised him lightly, studying a picture frame on Izuku's desk. The photo consisted of Izuku sitting next to Inko, with Eri in his lap as the three of them smiled at the camera. "Who took this?"

"Katsuki's mom," he told her, smiling fondly at the photo. "I've got tons of pictures of my mom and I, but I think that was our first photo with Eri."

"It's cute. I like it."

After a short pause, Ochako spun around to face him. "How're you doing? Your injuries, I mean?"

"Way better," Izuku admitted, leaning forward so he could stand up. "Recovery Girl just let me start walking around again. I hope I never have to sit in that wheelchair ever again."

Ochako nodded and pursed her lips for a moment. "Erm, Deku?"

"What's up?"

"Do you mind if…I mean could I…" She tripped over her words in her haste and trailed off for a second before trying again. "Can I see it? The…" She gestured a little helplessly towards her own stomach, tapping the left side to give him some idea of direction.

Izuku blinked as he realized what she was asking and nodded hesitantly. "Um, sure."

He lifted his shirt, exposing the lower half of his torso and the roughly circular scar that was the remnant of his brush with death. Ochako stared at the pale skin, studying how some of the tissue branched off from the main puncture- it looked so…well, small. So unlike the gaping wound she'd seen on that night…

Without even really thinking about it, she had walked over and lifted her hand so her fingers touched the scar lightly. Izuku reddened at the sensation, but Ochako was just focused on what was left of the terrible injury that had almost stolen her friend away.

He could see that she was conflicted, but he didn't want her to be upset. Maybe he could cheer her up?

Ochako snapped back to reality as Izuku's hand came up and threaded their fingers together, messing about like the had at the training camp. Her lips curved up in a smile again and her rosy cheeks became a little more pink.

"I'm okay," he murmured quietly, trying to reassure her.

"I know."

Holding their hands like this, their thoughts strayed back to the training camp. To the first time they'd done this, but also…beyond that. To the battle. The villains.

"I don't want that to ever happen again," Ochako said, her voice low. Izuku gave her a questioning glance and she answered him. "The attack at the camp."

"Me neither," he admitted. His thumb rubbed her skin absently and he looked away from her, too nervous to make eye contact. The grip of his hand became a little tighter around hers. "Especially what happened to Muscular…"

"If you're going to say it was your fault, I'm as much to blame as you are," she interjected. "I threw you at him. I guess…if you were the bullet, I pulled the trigger. But…we did what we had to, right? He was gonna kill Kota and the others…"

Izuku bit his lip, stressed lines forming over his face. "Yeah, but if I had better control…It's not like I was aiming to kill him, I just- I wanted to be sure he'd go down. His head was the only weak point I could find and…I just wanted to knock him out. Instead, I ended up cracking his skull open…"

There was a long silence between the two of them, their fingers continuing to twine to and fro as they pondered it all. Wondered what could have happened if they'd been stronger and better prepared.

Eventually, Ochako voiced the inevitable conclusion. "We did the best we could have back then."

Izuku slowly nodded. "I know."

"So…all we can really do is try to make sure it doesn't happen again, right?"

He looked uncertain. "I guess so."

"Hey."

His eyes flitted over to her face as she shook her head. "It wasn't anyone's fault."

She glanced down at their fingers and swung their hands from side to side a little. "It's not like we asked for all that to happen, you know? We were scared and fighting desperately with everything we had. This just- it came out of nowhere hit us like a train."

Ochako swallowed and took in a deep breath before smiling again. "But we're all okay now. That's what's important. And I'm glad you're back with us. I'd miss not having you around."

Izuku reddened and it took a moment before Ochako seemed to realize what she'd said and pulled away, her own face going crimson as she stammered. "I-I-I mean o-of course I'd miss any of our classmates! L-like Tsuyu and Eijirou and Tenya and- uh, everyone!"

"I-I know!" He yelped, startled by her sudden change of demeanor. His back went ramrod straight as he stuttered in response. "I-it's only natural that you'd be w-worried for our classmates! We're all friends, after all!"

"R-right?!" She squeaked.

An awkward silence filled the space between them for a few moments. Slowly, their lips curved up into matching, lopsided smiles. They were a little wry, and still a little bit sad, but they felt better after talking about their troubles.

"I guess all we can do is train and get stronger," Izuku admitted softly.

Ochako snorted. "What is this, a manga? Are we about to start a training montage?"

His lips rose a bit higher at that. "I didn't know you read manga."

"I happen to love them."

"In that case," Izuku gave her an amused smirk. "Yeah, we're gonna have a training montage and go over power level nine thousand."

"Plus Ultra!" Ochako cheered, throwing a fist into the air as the two of them descended into a short fit of giggles.

* * *

All Might pondered the criminal profiles as he scrolled along on his computer. What Izuku had told him about Himiko Toga and her condition had been weighing on his mind, so he'd started to do a little digging into the matter himself. Toshinori knew what Izuku was like; he knew that telling the teenager Himiko's only chance of being saved was by getting her into a mental institution for the rest of her life wouldn't stop him just like that.

Even if Izuku might agree with that, the kid was bound and determined to do his best for someone who needed his help. Toshinori understood that feeling better than anyone, even with the situation being what it was.

Moreover…something about Himiko's case bothered him. He didn't know what it was, it was just a feeling, but Toshinori had been involved in cases like this long enough to know that sometimes, a gut feeling could lead to an important discovery.

A knock on his office door had him calling without looking up. "Come in."

The door was opened and in came Tsukauchi, wearing his usual detective apparel. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes, I had a few questions regarding the League of Villains."

"Still looking into it, eh?"

"I'm off active duty, but I'm still able to do investigating on the side," Toshinori replied, grabbing a chair and pulling it beside him before gesturing for Tsukauchi to join him by the computer. Tsukauchi sat down and studied the criminal profile on the screen with a raised eyebrow.

"Himiko Toga?"

"Yeah, I had a conversation with Izuku about a week ago regarding her," Toshinori explained. He went on to tell Tsukauchi what Izuku had described; how Himiko seemed to have some kind of mental disorder that drove her into psychotic fits and what few details Izuku had uncovered about it.

"At first, I thought he might have been arguing for her sake out of Stockholm Syndrome or something similar, but after considering it for a while, I'm not so sure that's what's going on here. Izuku has always been good at responding in a crisis and he didn't try to defend any of the other villains, not even his father. It's not like I was doubting him, but perhaps my perception on the matter was biased after learning more about Tomura. I need an unbiased opinion."

Tsukauchi rubbed his chin as he regarded the picture they had of Himiko on her profile. "Blood as a coping mechanism, huh…Well, if that _is_ what's going on with her, it's definitely something treatable at a mental institution. But you aren't trying to argue for her freedom, are you? She's on the run for the murders of at least five people and is suspected to have been involved in six more killings. There's a very short list of things that can ever justify that, and none of them involve her spending anything less than at least ten years in an institution if they've gotten this severe. Do you suspect a split personality?"

"No, nothing like that," Toshinori shook his head as he scrolled down to the speculation of Himiko's current mental state: psychopathic tendencies. "From what Izuku described, it sounds like she's consciously aware of what she's doing all the time. But if she doesn't have her coping mechanism- blood- her perception on reality and her mental state degrade until she breaks down and becomes psychotic. Once she gets blood, her behavior reverts back to normal, or as normal as she can be. She seems to be desensitized to murder, but not so much that she enjoys it. As I said earlier, she jumped at the chance for Izuku to provide her with a coping mechanism that didn't involve her committing homicide."

"I'm not asking if there's something we can do that involves her being set free into society after getting help- she's killed too many people for that. But from what I can tell, her condition is treatable, and the first thing we need to do to help her is identify what exactly her condition is. It'll make arguing her case easier and getting her into a good institution more likely."

Tsukauchi nodded. "I can get on board with that. Actually, Himiko's case has been something of a personal matter for me and the police. Her father worked with us."

Toshinori glanced at him in surprise. "What, you knew him?"

"Oh yeah, he was a brilliant detective," Tsukauchi took the mouse from Toshinori and clicked on a link on Himiko's profile, pulling up information about her parents. "He was actually a hero for a few years, but he retired from it early in favor of police work. Small time hero, but he was an amazing officer. I only worked with him a few times, but each case we worked on was finished cleanly and without a shadow of doubt."

"I don't think I ever worked with him," Toshinori pondered curiously as he studied the man's profile- Kenta Toga, aged thirty-seven years. Cause of death: multiple stab wounds.

"I'm not surprised, he was mostly involved in international cases," Tsukauchi told him, grimacing slightly. "We couldn't believe it when he was killed. Someone really had it out for him, if the scene we arrived to said anything…"

Even Toshinori winced after just glancing at one of the gruesome photographs of the crime scene. "Good grief, that's just senseless violence…"

"It wasn't a clean kill, that's for sure. His Quirk wouldn't have been much help if the killer caught him off-guard, either. He called it Buff Vamp- simply put, he could enhance his physical strength to some degree by ingesting blood. It wasn't a really powerful Quirk, but it served him well against small time criminals."

"Not against his killer, though."

"Sadly, no. We suspect his Quirk is what gives Himiko her fangs and ability to use ingested blood as a way to change her appearance. Her mother had the ability to change her appearance to some degree- nothing impressive. Just the color of her hair, eyes, and nails."

"So her inclination to see blood as a coping mechanism could be related to her father, huh?" Toshinori sighed. "I still don't see how that happens. She was with her parents until she was twelve and none of her medical records imply any kind of mental illness."

"No, she was perfectly healthy," Tsukauchi agreed. "After the attack, she disappeared with her mother. Something must have happened between then and when she showed up again on our radar at age fourteen."

"Her mother is still missing?"

"We don't know," the detective said, causing Toshinori to lift a questioning eyebrow. "Kenta's wife was actually convicted of murder at one point. She was found guilty, but she always plead her innocence. That was one of the most bizarre cases I've seen- we had all the evidence and even video footage of her assassinating a government official, but when they did an analysis on her mental state and had her interrogated with a lie-detection Quirk, she was found to be innocent. We weren't sure how to handle it, so she was put in a facility after the trial and after a few years, she was deemed fit to be released on parole. Kenta had been involved in her case and he seemed to think all the evidence pointed to her complete innocence. He even fell in love with her and they were married- Himiko was born not long after that."

"So it's suspected that she wasn't as innocent as he thought, and that his wife murdered Kenta before kidnapping Himiko?"

"We don't know. His wife is just gone. She had an anklet on her left leg that let us track her- she wasn't allowed to leave her home beyond more than a couple of blocks until her parole was completed. She never pushed the boundaries we gave her and usually stayed home with Himiko whenever Kenta was at work. I even met her a couple of times when Himiko was just a baby. She was like any caring mother. No mental snaps, no instability, no violence. Nothing. She was normal. Even the doctors wrote her condition as perfectly stable after she recovered from whatever had happened when the government official was murdered."

"When we arrived on the crime scene and found Kenta, our first thought was that maybe she'd been faking everything the whole time, but _this_ always bothered me."

Tsukauchi clicked on the wife's profile and scrolled down to an image of her anklet on the floor next to a numbered card- an item found on the crime scene.

Toshinori frowned at the anklet. "She got it off?"

"I'm not sure. There was no blood on the anklet. It hadn't been tampered with. It was still active, even. From what we could tell, it seemed as though Mrs. Toga just phased through it."

"How is that even possible? Her Quirk has nothing to do with phasing."

"I don't know," Tsukauchi admitted. "No one does. The security cameras in the house were completely wiped- there's no footage of what happened. It seems that Detective Kenta was violently murdered and then something happened to his wife and daughter. What I can't figure out is why Himiko appeared on her own after that two years later and her mother is still nowhere to be found. We presumed that she's dead, but since Himiko is evidently alive, her mother is assumed to be a missing person."

Toshinori leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, pondering the situation. He shook his head in confusion after a few moments of silence. "If she had been kidnapped, wouldn't she have gone to the police or a hero?"

"It could be her kidnapper did something to her that made her into the bloodthirsty person she is now," Tsukauchi suggested. "That could be why she didn't try to find a figure of authority when she escaped."

 _"If_ she escaped. She might've been set loose after they finished whatever it was they did to her. It's all just speculation."

"Izuku didn't say what had happened to her?"

"She didn't tell him," Toshinori said. "Apparently, thinking about it makes her psychotic tendencies rise up."

"Then whatever happened was undoubtedly traumatic," Tsukauchi chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, we still have no evidence of what happened and it seems that for the time being, she's acting of her own volition. If she were being controlled, that'd be one thing, but we can't know for certain without capturing her."

The former Symbol of Peace raised a hand and rubbed his forehead. "None of this makes any sense. Mrs. Toga is convicted of murder and found innocent to some degree, she marries Detective Kenta, raises a family for twelve years, then apparently kills her husband and kidnaps her daughter after escaping from her anklet. All the while leaving nothing but a trail of good behavior since her conviction? Then Himiko appears two years later, minus her mother, and goes on a killing spree, and then she meets Izuku and this happens."

"It's a mess," Tsukauchi admitted.

Toshinori could already tell he was going to have more than one headache while looking into the Toga case. "Alright, well thank you for coming out here. I'm going to look into Himiko's case and the other villains as well. I'll keep in touch."

"Don't forget to spend time with Izuku," Tsukauchi said as he stood up, smiling somewhat. "That kid is a lot like you. If he wants to help Himiko, make sure he at least gets his Provisional License before he goes off and does something otherwise illegal."

Toshinori snorted. "I'm all over that, believe me. And I think I need another cup of coffee."

* * *

"Dibs! I call dibs on first game!" Mina declared, a guitar already in her hands. She was ready to rock and roll and have a blast.

"It's _my_ system, Alien Queen! Sit your pink ass down!" Katsuki retorted as he plugged everything into the television.

"How do YOU know what color my ass is?"

 _"Mina!"_ Momo shrieked in mortification.

Izuku laughed at the chaos on the other side of the room. Katsuki looked like he was out for blood, seeing as Hanta and Denki had goaded him into this whole thing by suggesting he wouldn't be able to beat them.

Needless to say, it obviously worked. Once Katsuki had been thoroughly challenged and annoyed, he brought down a gaming system, bound and determined to beat the ever-loving shit out of his classmates.

"Izuku, mind passing me the sugar?" Rikido asked on the other side of the kitchen sink.

"Sure," Izuku opened up a cabinet over the counter and pulled out a bag of sugar, which was but one of many ingredients that had been stocked in the dorms prior to their arrival in case anyone felt like cooking. He passed it to Rikido and then returned to his own work- he didn't really feel like playing games, and when Rikido said he was going to bake, Izuku happily joined him.

After all the crap the class had been put through over the last month or so, it was universally decided that sweets were a requirement. Rikido was busy preparing a chiffon cake while Izuku worked on making chocolate chip and butterscotch cookies in separate batches.

Toru was hovering around them, the slightest bit of drool hanging in the air where her mouth was supposed to be. "Please let me have the dough!"

"Wait until we're done, first!" Rikido chastised her, shooing the girl away from the bowl of gooey, sugary goodness. "You can have what's left of the bowl after that."

At the TV, Katsuki finished setting up the system and snatched the second guitar up before Denki could make a move for it. "Imma crush pinky first!"

"You're on!" Mina grinned challengingly, jabbing her finger at him.

Hanta grabbed the remote and raised the volume high, as was required when one was playing Guitar Hero with all of your friends. "So how are we doing this? Winner keeps playing and loser swaps out?"

"Sounds good to me!" Eijirou cracked his knuckles on the couch beside him, eager to get started.

"I don't care what we do as long as I get to kill you fuckers," Katsuki growled with a vicious grin on his face.

"Language," Momo scolded him.

 _"Thine-"_

"No!"

"Can you two stop flirting?" Denki muttered without thinking.

Izuku yelped at a sudden, loud bang and a scream, but when he spun around to see what had happened, all he saw was Katsuki looking more peeved than normal, Mina cackling on the floor like a maniac, and Momo's cheeks steaming beneath her hands. Denki had a dopey expression on his face and was giving everyone a thumbs up with both hands, causing the whole room to roar with laughter.

Rikido glanced at Izuku curiously. "What was that?"

The green-haired teenager shrugged in bewilderment. "Dunno. Business as usual, I guess?"

"Guess so- TORU!" Rikido turned back to his bowl of cake batter to see a bit of it dangling from an invisible finger, which quickly flew into the thief's mouth and disappeared as she fled from the chef's wrath.

He shook his fist after the invisible girl as she bounced out of his reach. "Stop stealing the batter!"

"NEVER!" She squealed in glee.

"Oi, Alien Queen!" Katsuki yowled at Mina as he picked out a song. "Get you ass up so I can murder you already!"

"Remember, you asked for it!"

That marked the beginning of the class's game night, which involved much loud music, lots of screaming, laughing, cursing, and chastising for said cursing (which was often followed by a sarcastic response).

After several games of Guitar Hero, it was becoming clear that Katsuki was a lot better at it than his classmates. His game against Mina was pretty close, but he outright curb-stomped Denki, Hanta, and Eijirou's scores into the dirt.

"Ha!" Katsuki sneered as he defeated his red-headed friend with ease. "Eat that, shitty hair!"

"Man, I got my butt kicked," Eijirou laughed as he looked at their scores, unabashed by his loss.

"Damn straight," Katsuki crossed his arms, a fiendish grin on his face as he expressed his arrogance for all to see. "None of y'all have got anything on me! I could beat any of you in my sleep!"

Kyoka rolled her eyes, finally fed up with seeing Katsuki win over and over again. "Eijirou, give me that guitar."

"Woohoo, you got this, Kyoka!" Ochako cheered for her friend.

Katsuki snickered as the girl took the proffered guitar from Eijirou and hung the sash connected to it over her shoulder. "You ready to lose, Heart Throb?"

"Put your money where your mouth is, power puff," she retorted, her response causing their friends behind them to fill the room with a chorus of "ohhhhs".

What happened next was a historical event for Class 1-A.

Kyoka, in her infinite wisdom, selected the hardest, longest, and damnedest song she could find, _Through the Fire and Flames,_ and set it to the hardest difficulty possible. She then proceeded to utterly annihilate Katsuki with _god-tier_ skills and an almost flawless score.

And when the song was finished and the entire class were picking their jaws up off the floor, Kyoka turned to a dumbfounded Katsuki with a smug grin on her face, lifted both of her hands up, and brought forth two perfect middle fingers.

For once, Katsuki was speechless.

"THAT WAS SICK!" Denki screamed in awe.

"Kyoka, I think you broke him," Tsuyu giggled, pointing at Katsuki's frozen body. He looked like he'd just had his soul punched out of him.

"Who cares, that was badass!" Mina squealed, bouncing over to hug Kyoka and lift her friend into the air despite her yelp of protest. The pink girl spun Kyoka around and cheered. "Ladies and gentlemen, our Goddess!"

"We praise thee!" Eijirou, Minoru, and Hanta started bowing on the floor, making the others laugh while Kyoka's face went red with embarrassment.

At that moment, Izuku and Rikido walked over with plates of cookies and a chiffon cake. "Who wants sweets?"

"MEMEME!" Mina almost dropped Kyoka, who squeaked and had to regain her balance as her hyper friend lunged for the food.

Tenya chopped his hand at her. "Mina! Please line up in an orderly fashion with the others and await your turn!"

As soon as the baked goods had safely made their way to the table and were dispersed on paper plates, everyone dug into the sugar fest and took their time enjoying it.

Shoto blinked as the chiffon cake's flavor burst in his mouth. After swallowing his first bite, he looked at Rikido curiously. "Could you teach me how to make this? I think my mother might like it."

"Sure," Rikido agreed, cutting another piece of cake and handing it over to Koji. "It's more of a hobby of mine since I use sugar to power my Quirk, but it's pretty easy."

Izuku looked at Katsuki's still frozen form, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "What happened to him?"

"Kyoka whooped his ass," Denki snickered.

"Ah," Izuku glanced at the score on the TV and whistled. "Wow, Kyoka, you're really good!"

"Well my dad likes to talk smack the same as Katsuki does when he played games, so I kind of made it a personal mission of mine to beat him at whatever we played," she muttered, no less embarrassed after all the attention. In an effort to distract herself, she bit into a cookie and enjoyed the sweet taste.

Tsuyu held a finger up to her chin as she regarded the seemingly lifeless form of their classmate. "How do we make him move again?"

"I got that covered," Izuku sighed. He glanced at Momo and asked somewhat apologetically. "Can you make me a long stick?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "How long?"

"I mean…long enough to give me a head start?"

He didn't need to say anything more. Momo's face became grave as she produced from her arm a steel pole about five feet long, which she handed to Izuku. "Good luck."

"Thanks," he gulped.

Eijirou gave Izuku a curious look. "What are you gonna do?"

"Snap him out of it. I've done this before…I think."

"I can do that!"

Izuku froze and stared at Eijirou as though the boy had just declared he wished to jump from a cliff. "Are…are you sure?"

"As a fellow bro, I'm more than happy to save our buddy!"

Pursing his lips tightly, Izuku slowly handed him the stick. "Wait until I open the door to the courtyard. Just…poke him and run for it, okay?"

Eijirou nodded, blissfully unaware of why Izuku was so afraid. "You got it!"

Izuku opened the door to the courtyard and then raised his voice above the noise. "Everyone, clear a path! This, uh…this might get nasty."

The other students wisely backed away from Katsuki as Izuku gave Eijirou the all clear. Seeing as Katsuki appeared to be a lifeless statue, Eijirou did what he felt was necessary to jolt him back to the world of the living.

Smacked him square on top of the head.

The room went silent, the teenagers watching in horror as Katsuki was jerked back to reality. His eyes widened at the unexpected pain, but the red orbs locked onto the pole in Eijirou's hands and quickly put two and two together.

Eijirou froze as Katsuki's face contorted with bewildered fury and he suddenly realized why Izuku had been so afraid. "Oh…"

The veins along Katsuki's face bulged as his pupils shrank into tiny dots. His eyelid twitched in an almost psychotic manner and the whole class could practically _hear_ the sound of his frayed temper snapping.

"HIT THE DECK!" Izuku shrieked.

Katsuki screamed in outrage and lunged at Eijirou with explosions bursting from his palms. Eijirou bolted for the door to the courtyard while the other students dove out of the way in case Katsuki blew the dorms up in pursuit of the teen who had dared to poke (more like outright assault) the sleeping bear.

As soon as the two of them were outside, Izuku slammed the door to the courtyard shut and leaned against it, his face pale. "I said to _poke_ him, not beat him on the head!"

"Um, were we just accomplices in a murder?" Hanta asked nervously.

Toru flinched at the sound of explosions and Eijirou screaming for his life. "I…maybe?"

"Eijirou's tough, he'll survive," Denki swallowed as they heard Katsuki swear exceptionally loudly. "R-right?"

"GET BACK HERE SHITTY HAIR!"

"MERCY! I'M YOUR BRO!"

Fumikage sweat-dropped as he stared at the numerous explosions outside, covering the courtyard in smoke. "Izuku, have you snapped him out of that state before?"

"I think I did, once," Izuku gulped, his face paling further. "I-I don't really remember it much…"

"But you survived," Mina pointed out, her mouth half-full with a butterscotch cookie. "Eijirou's gonna be fine. Anyone else want a cookie?"

Tenya clenched his fist in shame. "How could you say that?! Our friend is running for his life out there and you insist on eating sweets?!"

"Dude, you're welcome to join them," Kyoka pointed out.

Tenya opened his mouth hesitantly, considering that. "Erm…perhaps not."

"Oh, for goodness sake…"

The class blanched as Momo grabbed the door handle, twisted it open, and walked outside. Mina choked on her cookie in an effort to frantically scream after her. "Momo, no!"

Fearlessly, Momo stalked into the cloud of smoke and disappeared. The others students waited with baited breath, uncertain of their vice-president's fate. All of a sudden, there was a yell and a loud thud, and then utter silence.

After a few moments, Momo emerged from the fading cloud of smoke with a cross expression, dragging Katsuki's limp body with one hand and hefting a thick encyclopedia in the other. She brought the stunned teenager back into the common room and let him go on the floor with an exasperated huff. "Somebody go get Eijirou. I'm already on cleaning duty and I don't want them to make a bigger mess."

Denki and Hanta obeyed robotically while the rest of the class just tried to process what had happened.

On that day, it was discovered that not only was Kyoka an utter badass at video games, but Momo could one-shot Katsuki with a book.

Indeed, the girls of U.A were to be feared.

* * *

 **A/N: Please take this chapter of nonsense so I can write another chapter of nonsense already.**

 **Shoutout to Walk the Max Planck for once again being an awesome help with developing the chapter!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	33. Special Moves

_Chapter Thirty Three: Special Moves_

The day after the students moved into the dorms, they found themselves sitting in their homeroom for the first time in quite a while. Mr. Aizawa was waiting for them at the front of the room, and flanking him were Midnight, Ectoplasm, and Cementoss. As soon as the students had all arrived, they got started.

"Right, let's cut to the chase," he began. "As I mentioned the other day, our first objective is to get you all your Provisional Hero Licenses. In essence, a license permits you to directly intervene when people's lives are at stake. It goes without saying, but that's a heavy qualification and as such, the exam for it is extremely tough. Even the Provisional License Exam has a passing rate less than five percent each year."

"Whoa, it's _that_ hard just for a Provisional License?!" Denki exclaimed in disbelief.

"Of course," Midnight interjected. "You're being permitted to wield your Quirks in public and use them to fight villains or assist in rescues. The laws regarding that are already strict, so they can't afford to let anyone but the best obtain a license."

"And in light of that," Aizawa went on. "We're going to be spending the last ten days of Summer working on developing at least two of your very own special moves in preparation for the exam."

Excitement surged through the entirety of the classroom as the students cheered. "FINALLY! Some cool hero curriculum!"

"Alright, alright, settle down," Ectoplasm raised his voice over the students, although he seemed amused at their enthusiasm. "Special moves are techniques that will assure your victory in combat. They have to be deeply ingrained into your personality and style of fighting- techniques that do not fit those requirements will not be allowed."

"To battle means to leverage one's own unique strengths," Cementoss added, holding up a finger. "Nowadays, Pro Heroes without their own special moves are considered an endangered species. These moves will define who you are and act as your trump cards."

Aizawa grunted and crossed his arms. "We'll get into specifics with you all shortly in live exercises. Go change into your costumes and meet us at Gamma Gym."

* * *

Gamma Gym, also known as the Training Dream Land (or TDL for short) was a place Izuku hadn't visited in a while, but he recalled coming here before he started studying at U.A. Thinking about it, that hadn't been even half a year ago, but it felt like ages already.

Cementoss took a moment to explain to the students what TDL was all about. "This is where the magic happens, folks. The Training Dream Land is a facility of my own devising. Using my Quirk, I am able to prepare terrains and training objects personalized for each and every one of you."

"It's kind of like what Pixie-Bob did with her Quirk at the training camp, huh?" Mina thought aloud.

"Similar yes," Aizawa agreed. "But Cementoss's Quirk is more useful indoors and in urban areas. Pixie-Bob's Quirk might seem almost identical, but just as Cementoss's Quirk isn't as effective away from the city, her Quirk doesn't work well in the urban jungle. That's why she specializes in mountain rescues with the Pussycats. Well, the concept is pretty similar, so I guess you could consider this a sort of compromise for having to cut the training camp short."

"If I could ask a question!" Tenya's hand shot up into the air. "Why are special moves necessary for us to obtain a license? Please explain that context to us!"

Ectoplasm chuckled. "Easy there, young man. We'll explain it all step-by-step."

"As you know, there are a variety of different instances that require heroes to step in," Midnight explained. "Accidents, natural disasters, villains…there's a huge list of things that we have to cover. Heroes have to be able to do their job in any situation, so naturally, the exam for the license was constructed to measure your aptitude for that.

"Information gathering, judgement, mobility, fighting ability, communication, charisma, and leadership are critical to be effective as a hero. The test changes every year to measure those aptitudes differently. But amongst those abilities, your skill at fighting is weighted the most heavily. That's why we're having you work on special moves now, before you take the exam."

Cementoss nodded and called to the students as he prepared to change the terrain, kneeling on the floor a short distance away from them. "The mark of a hero's fighting ability is if they're able to take control of a situation that is out of control. For example, if there were villains fighting in the street, you should be able to stop them and 'take the reins' as it were."

"Not all moves are necessarily for offensive purposes, either," Ectoplasm added. "Tenya, your Recipro Burst is a good example of that. Moving at blistering speeds for short bursts of time is no small feat. That kind of ability is certainly worth of being called a special move."

Tenya clenched his fist and looked up, apparently trembling with honor. "You would deem that a special move?!"

"So…it's about drawing from your natural strengths and giving yourself an advantage, right?" Rikido queried.

"Precisely," Aizawa grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Kamui Woods's 'Lacquered Chains Prison" for example, lets him both attack and immobilize his opponents in an instant. It's not complicated and it suppresses villains quickly- an ideal and effective technique. Before the training camp was cut short, we were supposed to spend the last few days working on special moves, but obviously that didn't happen. So in these last ten days of Summer Break, we're going to kill two birds with one stone and strengthen your Quirks whilst developing your special moves."

The ground roiled and rose into a series of small mountains as Cementoss molded the concrete as he so wished, developing a rugged terrain not unlike the mountains the class had trained at during the camp with the Pussycats. Ectoplasm opened his mouth and unleashed a swarm of clones, which bounded over the terrain to await work with each student.

"Also, while you're working on your Quirks and special moves," Midnight announced. "Consider ways in which your costumes can be improved. It's only been a few months, so there haven't been many changes at all- I think Izuku's is probably the only costume so far with any noticeable change, and that's barely more than a difference in visual appearance. If you're thinking about developing a special move that requires a change or you have an idea, make sure you tell us so we can send you to the Support branch."

"Does everyone understand?" Aizawa asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Good, then get started," he grunted, paused, and then spoke again. "And before I forget, Izuku and Katsuki! I know Recovery Girl has been on your asses about your arms and I'm going to be as well. Don't give us another reason to be pissed off at you. Katsuki, small blasts only from your right arm! Izuku, I don't want to see you break another bone with your own power, either! You both know your limits, so be smart about them."

"Y-yes, sir," Izuku stammered, rubbing the back of his head with a slightly embarrassed smile. Katsuki huffed and muttered under his breath, but didn't challenge Aizawa.

As the rest of the class each walked off to Ectoplasm's clones to begin their training, Izuku held his arms up, face twisting into a frown as he tried to think. _What should I do?_

One of the clones came over and prodded the boy's knee with his artificial leg. "What are you daydreaming about?"

"Wah, sorry!" Izuku jumped and faced his teacher, looking uncertain. "W-well…as far as special moves are concerned, since I blew up my arms, I have to make sure I don't overdo it in combat. I'm not really sure what special move I should make up for that…"

"Hmm…well let's set it on the back burner for a moment and approach it differently," Ectoplasm suggested. "Can you think of anything that isn't combat oriented?"

The teenager nodded. "Yeah, I've thought of how I can use my flames for a rescue maneuver…kind of. I'm not sure if it's something I can practice here."

"I'll be the judge of that. Explain it to me."

"My flames let me change normal fire to the kind I use," Izuku said, holding up one of his hands and igniting it with licking emerald flame. "So I was thinking that if I was trying to stop a forest fire or a fire in a building, I could convert the flames around me into green flames and then shut them off in an instant. That could put the fire out quickly."

Ectoplasm looked intrigued. "In other words, literally fighting fire with fire, eh? Not a bad idea. Not at all. We can practice that here. If all you're doing is switching the flames on and off, you should try to improve how quickly you can immediately put out large amounts of fire."

The clone glanced at Aizawa. "Mind getting the burner out?"

"Sure," Aizawa replied as he pulled out a tablet and started tapping a few things on the screen. He raised his voice to shout to the other students. "If you kids need something like a water or fire source for your special moves, let us know! We can adjust to those needs accordingly."

Izuku perked up as he recognized the bunsen-burner like object from the first time he'd come to TDL months back. He'd actually forgotten about this thing. The burner lit up and Ectoplasm's clone faced him again. "Have at it."

The teenager grinned, emerald fire blazing over him in an instant. "Alright!"

As Izuku and the other students got into their training, from the doorway, All Might watched them in silence. He observed as Izuku started drawing in large amounts of fire and then shut them down as fast as he could, smiling fondly.

 _He's growing fast. Well, I shouldn't be surprised if his intuition is sharp with All Flare,_ he mused. _But in regards to One for All…he needs to change up his style. Close combat is, for now, both his biggest strength and greatest weakness. He may be a talented fighter, but his lack of control over One for All has already taxed his body heavily._

He heard a loud bang and glanced up towards the concrete mountains further down the gym, where one of Ectoplasm's clones was being disintegrated. To no one's surprise, Katsuki was the one responsible for that.

"Damn, it feels good to rage again!" He laughed, flexing and rolling his arms. The teenager looked over towards the real Ectoplasm and called to him. "Hey, Ectoplasm! Your clone died, can I have another!?"

All Might whistled and walked into the gym behind Aizawa. "No surprises there, eh? Even injured, he's making leaps and bounds. He'll be getting even stronger before long."

Aizawa looked at the former Symbol of Peace over his shoulder. "What'd you come out here for, All Might? You're still recovering, aren't you?"

"Oh, don't be so cold," All Might smiled at him, offering a thumbs up and momentarily tensing to bring out his muscle form for just a split second. "I didn't really have anything else to do today, so I am here!"

After popping back to his normal form, All Might cast his gaze over the training students. "Besides, they're working on special moves. I'd like to see what they come up with and offer them advice."

Midnight gave him a sideways smirk. "Don't go overdoing it."

They looked back up as yet another explosion roared out, this time sparing Ectoplasm's clone and blowing up a section of concrete. Katsuki was mostly using his left arm since his right was only good for small explosives at the moment, but he was still able to do a lot of damage.

"M-man, Katsuki's totally in his element!" Ochako managed to choke out whilst floating and trying to maintain her balance in zero gravity.

Mashirao nodded, smiling nervously at the explosive teen as he blew away another boulder in his pursuit of Ectoplasm's clone. "He's probably got a bunch of moves already planned out. With a Quirk like that, there are tons of ways he can apply it."

Izuku gathered up more flames, watching Katsuki out of the corner of his eye as his friend ran riot. _The two of us came up with a ton of moves when we were kids. I'm not sure how many of them are viable, but he's already got effective techniques like Howitzer Impact, Stun Grenade, and Blast Turbo down to the letter. It won't take him long to figure out new stuff if he hasn't already._

He looked down at the flames roiling around his hands and bit his lip. _As for me…I've still got a lot of work to do. Maybe I can get some new equipment to lighten the load on my arms, but until then, I won't be able to use Detroit, Manhattan, and Hulkbuster Smash anymore. I've got a bit more flexibility with All Flare, but even so…using Sun Forge and Pyroclasm damages myself too much. I have to build up my body and my Quirk before I can use those moves effectively._

 _…I should think about it some more,_ he decided, clenching his fists. _For now, I'll work on instantly shutting down my flames and spreading them through foreign fire as fast as I can. Expanding my range of control should be a goal of mine as well…_

Izuku spread his arms out to either side of him, focusing hard on maintaining his control the further the flames spread until they circled him at his outermost range like the eye of a hurricane. _Control…control…_

* * *

Aizawa clapped his hands lazily as he called to the exhausted students. "That's it for day one! If you made progress, good for you- think about what to do next. If you weren't as fruitful as you would have liked, don't be afraid to ask for help from the teachers or your fellow students. Dismissed!"

Izuku panted on the ground, having taken a seat to let his body cool off and recover from managing his flames for the last several hours. He felt something cold tap his cheek and yelped, eyes flying open to glance up at the person responsible.

All Might smirked down at him, still holding the offered water bottle in his hand. "Need a drink, kiddo?"

"Thank you," Izuku managed, taking the bottle and opening it before gulping down more than half of the contents in one go. He let out a sigh of relief as his temperature started to fall back to more comfortable levels. "Whew…"

"How's your move coming along?" All Might asked, reaching down to pull Izuku to his feet.

Izuku shrugged as he righted himself, twisting the bottle in his hand absently. "It's going okay. I need to work on my range of flame control, but I'm starting to shut them down faster than before. It might not be effective on huge fires right now, but at least I can switch them off in sections."

"I see. Any thoughts on combat?"

The teenager bit his lip. "Not really, no. My arms as they are need something to brace them so they don't take so much damage when I fight. I was thinking about developing a long-range attack, but I can't do anything really effective with my Quirk as it is now. I kind of wanted to try a move with Pyroclasm, but again, my arms might not be able to handle how much it rattles my body…"

"I think your problem," All Might interjected. "Is that you're still trying to imitate me."

Izuku blinked at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"Think about it on your own!" The blonde man said, patting Izuku's shoulder as he walked off to the other students. "Hey, kids! I have some advice for you all to mull over!"

The teenager stared after All Might in confusion. _He was imitating All Might? Was…was that a bad thing?_

* * *

Izuku didn't immediately head to the lockers after training ended for the day. Instead, he made his way to the Support Branch's development studio, where Power Loader was in charge of costume designs and changes. He still wasn't sure what All Might had meant, but for the time being, he figured he'd see about getting some adjustments to his costume that would help him in close combat.

He _needed_ his arms to fight- just because he had to be more careful with them from now on didn't change that fact. If he was going to be at the top of the class and eventually become the number one hero in All Might's stead, it was imperative that his body was able to function properly during a battle.

"Hey, Deku! Wait up!"

Izuku paused mid-step and glanced over his shoulder to see Ochako and Tenya hurrying after him. "Hey guys."

"Are you going to ask about upgrades for your costume as well?" Tenya queried. Both of them were still in their hero costumes as well.

"Yeah, I need to find a way to support my arms now that they're more fragile," Izuku replied, smiling a bit wryly. "I was kind of hoping they'd have something to help me keep my body temperature from overheating as well."

"I see! Excellent ideas! As expected from our class president!" The taller boy praised him. "I'm going to see about upgrading the radiator in my engine. Recipro Burst may be a special move, but I need to mitigate the drawbacks and cool-down time for multiple uses."

"Makes sense," Izuku glanced from him to Ochako. "What about you? Figure out anything for your special moves?"

She nodded. "I'm working on my mobility and control in zero gravity so I can develop my own fighting style! I'm gonna try incorporating moves I learned from Gunhead, too. How about your special moves, Deku? How are they coming along?"

"Mm…" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as they reached the door for the design studio. "I've got a bunch of ideas, but since my arms are shot, well…A lot of them won't be viable until I can find a way to lower the blowba-ACK!"

The three students screamed as the door to the studio literally exploded in their faces, sending them all sprawling over the floor in a huge cloud of smoke. They started coughing as they lay there, stunned.

"Owowow…Dammit, Mei!" Power Loader's irritated voice filled the air. "What did I tell you?! Just because you can make something doesn't mean you should!"

"Hohoho! Failure is but the mother of innovation! Just because something didn't do what you planned doesn't mean it's useless!"

"Can it and listen to me for once, will you?!"

Tenya's head lifted and he froze at the sight of another human being pushing herself off of his body. "Y-you!"

"Oh? Haven't I seen you before?" Mei asked curiously.

"Yes! I'm Tenya Iida! You used me to selfishly promote your innovations at the Sports Festival!" He exclaimed indignantly.

"That so? I forgot, hohoho!"

Izuku groaned and rolled his body forward to sit up. "Ow…what the heck were you doing, Mei?"

"I made an explosive!" She said cheerily, standing up so Tenya could get on his feet.

"We gathered that, funnily enough," Ochako muttered, wincing and rubbing her back. She cast a slightly irritated look at Mei.

"Well, it was nice chatting with you all!" Mei said suddenly, spinning back to the studio room. "I've got to get back to my babies now, see ya!"

"Ah, wait, wait, wait!" Izuku stammered. "We're here about getting costume upgrades done! I have to ask Power Loader a few things…"

"Costume upgrades?!" Mei did a literal one-eighty and got in his face, a wide grin matching her large eyes. "You've got my attention!"

Izuku flinched away from the girl as Power Loader gave her a squinted glare. "Mei, I don't care if you wanna board up here with me and hang out in the studio, but if you keep making a mess, I'm gonna ban you."

The Pro glanced at the shell-shocked students. "Eraser Head already gave me a heads up that you kids might swing by. Come on in."

The design studio was full of building equipment and different materials, ranging from armor, fabrics, weapons, and utility tools, to a whole range of objects Izuku couldn't even identify at first glance. Several computers lined one wall, which had miraculously escaped the aftermath of Mei's explosion.

"This is neat!" Ochako exclaimed, bouncing on her heels. "It's like a secret base!"

"You've got your costume instructions, right?" Power Loader held his hand out expectantly towards the three students. "Fork 'em over. I've got a license, so I can tinker with a few things if it's minor changes you're looking for. If that's what you want, all I gotta do is let the design studio know what I changed. But if it's a big change, I have to prepare a formal written application for approval from the office first. After that, the newly upgraded costume gets inspected and if approval is granted, it gets sent back here to you."

Izuku tilted his head curiously. "How long does something like that usually take?"

"Depends on the office," Power Loader admitted. "But I'm partnered up with one of the best in the business, so give or take about three days. What are you looking to do?"

"Well…I need to find a way to reduce the stress on my arms," Izuku told him. "But I was also wondering if there was any way to add a cooling system or something to slow down how fast I overheat?"

"Hmm…you're fighting style is mostly oriented towards close combat, right? Taking the strain off your arms shouldn't take much work," Power Loader mused. "As for cooling systems, since you tend to move a lot, a heavy, mechanical system wouldn't be ideal for you…There's a kind of fabric I can incorporate into your costume that will keep your body cool for a longer period of time. That would take more tinkering since I'd have to add the layer to the inside of your entire costume, but it's definitely doable."

Izuku felt a hand suddenly grab his neck from behind and reflexively snatched it by the wrist, flames licking along his arm towards the offending limb-

"Whoa, there!" Mei yelped and yanked her hand away before she could get cooked.

"Ah- sorry!" He yelped, forcing the flames to go out. "You surprised me!"

"Don't fry my hands! I need those to make more babies!"

Tenya sweat-dropped. "What are you even doing?"

"Touching him, obviously!" Mei said like it was the most simple thing in the world. Izuku reddened as her fingers wriggled and she grinned at him eagerly. "Gotta see what his build is like if I'm to find a baby that suits him!"

This time, Izuku ignited his body on purpose, covering every inch so not even Mei would be brave enough to touch him. Unfortunately, she merely threw on a pair of thick welding gloves and tried again.

"Let me touch you! I think you'd be a perfect fit for my exoskeleton baby number forty-nine!" Mei insisted.

"I-I just need something that supports my arms!" He yelped, recoiling away.

Tenya took the chance to face Power Loader with his own idea. "I'd like to upgrade the radiator of my engine so I can improve their cooling capabilities…"

"If that's what you're after…"

Tenya froze as Mei suddenly popped up in front of him and slapped a pair of armored gloves with engines onto his arms. "Baby number thirty-six! Super-cooler electric boosters designed to reduce the generation of heat!"

"Why my arms?!" Tenya demanded as Mei pressed a button, and then he was yelling as the boosters rocketed him into the ceiling. He fell to the floor, only being saved from a painful descent by Ochako hurriedly activating her Quirk on him.

"You gotta think outside the box, Mr. Glasses!" Mei exclaimed to Tenya. "If you want to cool your legs, just run with your arms!"

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" Tenya retorted indignantly.

Power Loader swiped at Mei with his hand, but she dodged easily and grinned as he gave her an annoyed look. "Stop being a pain."

Izuku quirked up an eyebrow in total confusion as he watched Power Loader start berating Mei for causing trouble. _Run with your arms? What even is she…wait…_

It clicked.

His fighting style was too similar to All Might's in that he was relying on punches. His arms were too weak for that to be his main combat specialty now, so…why not use his legs?

Ochako helped Tenya stand up and glanced at Izuku, flinching when he started to mutter at an insane rate. She and Tenya exchanged a concerned look- it had been a while since Izuku went through a mumble storm…

"Erm…Deku? Hello?" She waved in front of his face to get his attention.

Izuku jerked back into reality. "A-ah, yeah! I just had an idea!"

* * *

Katsuki glanced up at Izuku with a surprised exclamation. "Huh?! Wait, you're gonna use kicks instead of punches now?"

"As my main focus, yeah," Izuku replied from across the table in the common room. They were eating a quick dinner with Shoto (much to Katsuki's irritation) and discussing their special moves. "It's not like I'm going to stop using punches altogether, but my biggest hits will be with my legs from now on."

Shoto swallowed some rice and gave him a sideways glance. "That makes more sense for you, actually. Since you seem to prefer close combat, you probably should've had more of a focus on your legs in the first place. A person's legs are about three or four times as strong as their arms, and you've got the flexibility to make a style centered around kicks."

"That's still a big curve, icy-hot," Katsuki muttered, poking at his lunch with his chopsticks. "It's not like you can just swap over to your legs because you feel like it. You're gonna need a lot of practice to use it effectively, especially with the way you kick."

Izuku frowned at him. "What do you mean?"

"Lemme show you. Get up," Katsuki got out of his chair and moved away from the tables with Izuku to a more open space. "Kick me wherever you want."

"Oh, you two gonna throw down?!" Eijirou asked as he, Hanta, and Mashirao walked over from the kitchen.

"Do it, do it!" Hanta encouraged with a grin.

Momo and Mina had been watching them from the couches and the former called out to the boys. "Don't start a fight in the dorms, you two!"

"Chill the fuck out, Ponytail. I'm just making a point," Katsuki called back, ignoring her retort about his language. Izuku was a bit hesitant about it, so his friend growled. "Hurry up, Deku. Food's getting cold."

Izuku shrugged and after thinking about it for a second, spun in a circle and threw a roundhouse kick at Katsuki's stomach. He yelped as he hit nothing and kept going, staggering and flailing for a few moments before he sprawled over the floor.

"Try again."

Scrambling to his feet, Izuku tried again, this time darting at Katsuki before throwing a kick up at his face. This time, Katsuki just leaned back and grabbed his ankle, holding the limb up high so he was almost doing the splits on one leg. Izuku threw his arms out to the sides to keep his balance as his friend snorted.

"See what I mean? Your wind up motions are way too big and you aren't as compact with your moves," Katsuki pointed out, still holding up Izuku's leg. "Sure, I was expecting it, but with a big swing like that, anyone could've dodge those kicks."

He let go and Izuku stumbled for a second as his foot returned back to the floor. "I know, I just need practice."

"Better be some damn amazing practice," the other teen scoffed, returning to his dinner. "Changing your style is fine and all, but we have less than ten days now before the Provisional License Exam. Can you even do a full style change and make it effective enough to pass?"

Izuku hesitated and bit his lip. Katsuki made a good point- he wasn't being rude or condescending. If the exam was combat oriented, it was going to be tricky if he went into it with his hopes pinned on a skill he'd just picked up. Even so…

"Tenya said he would give me some pointers," Izuku explained as he went back to his seat to continue eating. "I'm going to learn as much as I can from him and the teachers before the exam, but like I said, it's not like I'm completely giving up on my arms. I can still use them in a situation where kicks won't be as effective."

"It's not like you have a problem with speed and power, right?" Mina called from the couch, standing up to take her empty plate to the kitchen sink. "I've never been on the receiving end of your attacks myself, but they sure pack a punch."

Shoto cocked an eyebrow in agreement. "That's putting it lightly."

"I've still got a lot of room to improve, though," Izuku pointed out.

"Yeah, but right now, your issue isn't power so much as balance," Mina countered, continuing to talk as she turned the sink on and started scrubbing her plate with a scrub-brush. "If that's the case, then when you aren't working on special moves, you should try doing exercises that improve your control."

"Like what?"

"Put simply," the pink girl spun around to face them, a large grin on her face. "You should let me teach you how to dance!"

Izuku blinked at her with wide eyes. "I'm sorry?"

"No protests! Out to the courtyard! The courtyard, I say!"

"Wah! Mina! I-I'm still eating!"

"Goddamn Alien! Stop being a pain in the ass!"

"Language!"

"Quit being a hassle in my-"

"NO!"

Amidst the insanity, Ochako and Tsuyu exited the elevator in their gym clothes and locked onto the frenzy of activity that was being pulled towards the courtyard (literally, seeing as Mina was leading with Izuku dragging along the floor behind her). The two girls stared as the other students present followed Mina outside and exchanged a confused glance.

"I kind of want to know," Tsuyu said.

"Okay, just for a minute," Ochako agreed. "I want to go work out a bit before bed."

* * *

Toshinori was leaving his office after finishing his paperwork for the day. Man, the life of a teacher was tough…he'd thought being a hero was hard, but sheesh! There was another stack of papers waiting for him tomorrow and the semester hadn't even started yet!

As he closed the door behind him, he heard voices and looked up to see Aizawa walking down the hall with Midnight and Present Mic alongside him. The trio of younger heroes spotted him as he called to get their attention.

"Finish up your homework?" Mic asked, amused.

"For now," Toshinori grunted as he fell in step with them. "I didn't realize there was so much paperwork involved as a teacher. I think I've spent more time grading and coming up with assignments than my students."

"Welcome to the hardest and most unappreciated job on the face of the earth," Aizawa said flatly.

Midnight sniggered and licked her lips. "Well, we'll get to have some fun at the start of this coming semester~"

Toshinori blinked at them. "What do you mean?"

His trepidation grew as the corners of Aizawa's mouth curved upwards into a nasty smirk. "Let's just say the five students in Class A who are already on my shit list for going to the Kamino Ward incident of their own accord unknowingly volunteered themselves for a special event of sorts. They're on cleaning duty, sure, but this is gonna be their real punishment for almost getting themselves killed."

"…should I be afraid for them?"

"The only thing you should worry about is dying of laughter," Mic snickered.

Midnight sighed mockingly, a cheshire cat smile on her face. "Ah, to be teenagers…"

Toshinori wondered quite seriously if he should warn the blissfully unaware students of their impending doom.

* * *

Mina stretched her arms out in front of her, cracking her neck from side to side a few times to loosen up. "Alright, alright! Check it out!"

The students around her watched in amazement as Mina threw her body into a backflip, landing on her left hand and holding her leg with her free arm to maintain her balance. From there, she flew into a series of rapid spins on the floor, rolling on her arms and legs in a blur of motion.

"Whoooaaaa!" Hanta exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

"Mina! Do that helicopter-thingy!" Eijirou cheered.

"Yep!" Mina replied in the middle of her moves, pushing herself into a handstand with her legs stretched out in the air to the sides. Holding that, she spun around, rotating on her palms quickly with the momentum of her legs. With casual ease, she dropped so her head was almost touching the ground and her knees tucked close to her chest, then pushed off and kicked forward at the same time. Her body arched gracefully as she landed on her feet and twisted back around to face the other teens as she came to a stop, grinning.

"And that's how it's done!"

"Mina, that was so cool! I had no idea you could do that!" Ochako gasped in amazement.

"I know you said dancing was a hobby of yours, but…whoa," Shoto agreed, impressed.

Mina took a lazy bow as she giggled. "Thanks! It took a lot of practice, but it's actually because I dance that I was in such good shape before I came to U.A. It's a lot of fun, but it really works your entire body and the advanced tricks need expert balance to pull off."

Izuku was still trying to process everything he'd just seen. When Mina danced, she was so fast, he could barely keep up with each motion. She used the momentum of every move to flow into the next smoothly, never losing her balance and using her whole body to keep herself steady.

The pink girl skipped over to Izuku and poked his freckled cheeks teasingly. "So, since you need to work on your balance, lemme teach you how to dance! I've been wanting to get a bunch of friends together here to start a dance group, anyway! You can be my first student!"

"I-I-I, uh, th-thanks!" Izuku stammered. He wasn't sure if he actually had a choice, but this seemed like it was both fun and interesting, so he wouldn't complain.

"Mina, I wanna give it a shot, too!" Eijirou proclaimed. The red-head glanced over to Katsuki. "Hey bro, you wanna try it?"

"Hell no," Katsuki grunted, rolling his eyes and stalking back into the building. "I got better things to do with my time than dance or some shit."

"Erm, I'm a little tired tonight, but how about tomorrow?" Momo asked apologetically.

"Sure thing, Momo!" Mina agreed, no less cheery for it. She looked at the rest of the students. "What about you guys?"

"I'm so in!" Hanta pumped his fists excitedly.

Shoto shrugged and raised a hand. "I want to try."

Ochako and Tsuyu exchanged a glance, the former offering an awkward smile. "We'll join you tomorrow with Momo. Tsu and I were actually about to hit the gym."

Mina looked at Mashirao, who seemed to consider it for few moments before shaking his head. "Maybe some other time. I already have some stuff to do tonight."

"No worries! You guys can join in whenever you like!" Mina told them, turning her attention to her four new students. "Get ready boys! Let's break it down!"

While the students not participating went off to do their own activities, Mashirao paused by the door and glanced back at Izuku with a contemplative expression. But he said nothing and eventually went back into the building.

* * *

At U.A's gym, Ochako and Tsuyu finished their stretches on a large mat and then hit the treadmills, looking to do some cardio just to start things off. After talking about it at the dorms, they'd decided to try coming by here throughout the week to work out and release some stress whenever they weren't being weighed down by homework.

The girls were wrapping up their second mile on the treadmills when they heard a voice calling to them- one they hadn't heard in a long time.

"Heeeey! It's the 1-A girls!"

Ochako and Tsuyu glanced to their left to see long, blue hair bouncing in their direction. The owner of said hair waved at them like an excited child. "It's been a while! How's it going!"

"Nejire!" Ochako exclaimed in surprise, reaching up to slow the treadmill's speed down so she could breathe and talk to the third-year student. "I haven't seen you since…uh…"

"USJ, right?" Tsuyu prompted, also slowing her treadmill as Nejire stepped onto one next to them, though she didn't start it. "It's really been a long time."

"I woulda dropped by to chat, but I got so busy with the Sports Festival and my internship that I didn't have time," Nejire's cheeks puffed up in an adorable pout. "It's so boring having juniors and not being able to hang out with them!"

She shook her head and smiled at them. "Did you two just get here? Whatcha working on tonight?"

Ochako nodded. "We just started, yeah. Umm…not exactly sure what we're working on, though. We figured we'd start with some cardio, but we were kinda just gonna try stuff out from there."

"I see!" Nejire replied energetically as she bounced on her heels. "In that case, how about you join me for a workout? I was gonna do leg day today. Working out at random is fine and all, but if you want to hit the ground running and start improving right off the bat, it helps if you have someone who knows what they're doing."

"I wouldn't mind if it's not too much trouble," Tsuyu agreed, then glanced at her friend. "What do you think, Ochako?"

"Sure!"

"That's the spirit! Well, I already warmed up and you two beat me to the treadmills. Take a break and get something to drink so I can get a mile in, then we'll get started!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

* * *

Not for the first time that night, Katsuki's eyes flitted away from his book to the idiots making so much noise on the floor in front of him as they watched TV. He was stretched out on his back over the couch, having utterly refused to move despite taking up so much space that the only room left was already occupied by Momo. Momo was also reading a book in her seat close to his head.

Fumikage, Denki, Toru, Kyoka, and Rikido were watching some horror movie Fumikage had brought down a while ago about a family that had to remain dead silent throughout their daily lives, or creepy aliens would find them and slaughter them. Every time there was a jump-scare throughout the film, the group of teenagers (with the exception of Fumikage's goth ass) screamed and practically made the couch rock.

Katsuki had doubted the movie qualified as horror since it was rated PG-13 and was barely paying attention to it, but even he took pause when the little boy at the start of the movie got _fucking_ _wrecked_ by an alien.

Okay, so maybe the movie wasn't as lame as he thought it would be.

Even so, it wasn't exactly enjoyable because the four loudmouths not a foot away from him lost their shit at every little thing. He was really tempted to yell at them to fuck off and go elsewhere to watch it, but with the movie already halfway through, he sourly realized they weren't about to go anywhere. He also felt too lazy to get his ass up and go back to his room to read in peace. To make matters even more aggravating, every time he looked up at the annoying dorks next to him or up at the TV, he lost his place in his book.

Ugh. He was gonna get pissed off before this goddamn movie was over, he just _knew_ it.

Katsuki's red eyes returned to his book, where he barely covered four words before he felt an object- a hand specifically- place itself on top of his head. He paused and counted for five seconds before slowly arcing his neck back to see who the hell was touching him.

Momo didn't look at him and merely continued to read her book as she ran her fingers through his hair absently. Katsuki's eyelid twitched in annoyance. "What the fuck was that?"

She was silent for a moment, still not looking at him as considered his question. Eventually, her shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug. "Affection."

"Disgusting."

"…"

"…"

"…do it again."

Momo didn't respond and merely let her fingers continue to work through his soft, fluffy hair as Katsuki settled back down to read, refusing to admit that it felt pretty good. For a solid sixty seconds, there was peace.

Then a second hand was placed on Katsuki's head and ruffled his hair in a way that was far from relaxing, mashing down on every single hot button in his body. Denki's loud exclamation pointed to him as the culprit. "Whoa, guys! You won't believe how soft Ka-AAAGH!"

Denki's scream a split-second later had even Fumikage shrieking in fright, as Katsuki blasted the offending teenager with his good arm. With Denki reduced to a twitching, smoking mess on the floor and Katsuki's rare patience now gone, he deemed the effort of going to bed worth it and abandoned the couch, growling on his way out. "I'm done with this shit. See you tomorrow, assholes."

"Language!" Momo called after him, feeling a little irritated herself.

"Fuck!" Katsuki retorted in defiance as he walked into the elevator.

Momo resisted the urge to huff out loud as she returned to her book. So much for making the explosive teen feel comfortable with her.

She knew that besides Izuku, she probably had the closest relationship with Katsuki out of the entire class, but therein lay the problem- his connection to the rest of their class was more like a tolerance scale than actual friendship. He could only put up with them for so long before he lost his patience.

Even her…friendship with Katsuki was still pretty delicate, given how new it was to them. They had mutual respect and she did want to get to know him better, but apparently that wasn't something she'd be doing in the common room. Some place more private, perhaps.

She filed the thought away for later and glanced down as Toru and Rikido helped Denki sit up, who was still dazed by the blast.

"Oww…" Denki groaned in pain. "Why'd he do that to me?"

Kyoka shook her head in exasperation and glanced over her shoulder at Momo, who returned the look with a silent roll of her eyes.

A question like that should have been obvious from the get-go.

* * *

Every cell in her body was pulsing with such intensity that it almost hurt. It felt like she was being torn from reality with every beat of her heart, as though her sanity was being peeled out of her mind layer by layer.

She fisted her hair, eyes wide, skin feverish, her sharp canines clenched within her locked jaw. Her body was curled up on the floor, trembling, and her breath came in sharp, uneven rushes through her nose.

The last few days, she'd been slipping into her unstable state as she usually did after going without blood for a long enough period of time. But this- this was different. Suddenly, the steady slope had dropped away into a empty ravine.

It was unreal and she didn't know why it was happening and it was terrifying. She'd gone without blood for longer amounts of time than this, and yet-

She couldn't-

A keening whine escaped her throat as she forced herself to sit up, propped on wobbly arms. Her fingers dug into the floor and dragged along the wood like the claws of an animal.

The whine became a guttural, predatory snarl which was dragged past her lips. Her already bright eyes actually glowed; twin drops of liquid amber, as beautiful as they were dangerous.

As quickly as it came, the attack was over and she collapsed to the floor once more, boneless and gasping. Her slick, sweat-covered skin was far, far too hot beneath her clothing, but she was too exhausted to remove it on her own.

With an incredible effort, she somehow managed to force her body to roll onto her back and stared up at the blackness of the ceiling, still panting for breath.

 _Izu…I'm sorry…_

 _I'm probably gonna kill you._

* * *

 **A/N: Woohoo, another chapter~ I was debating if I was going to add more content into this one, but decided it would be better off written into the next chapter. So here's what you get for that decision of mine- some training, development, fluff, and a little madness just to top things off. More to come!**

 **Special thanks to Walk the Max Planck and FoxOnPie for helping me with this chapter!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	34. Last Preparations

_Chapter Thirty Four: Last Preparations_

Toshinori opened up the door to Gamma Gym, having finished his meetings and paperwork for the morning. It had become a habit of his over the last ten days to drop by the TDL for a couple of hours each day to check up on the students and see how they were progressing. The Provisional License Exam was tomorrow on Friday, so this would be their last day of training until the semester started.

He waved at Aizawa and Vlad as he walked in, calling to get their attention. "Hey, there! How are things?"

The two Pros looked back at him and Aizawa grunted. "Back again…? They're coming along."

"You've got both of the first year classes working together, eh?" Toshinori remarked as he spotted one of Ectoplasm's clones dodging and weaving from a combined assault courtesy of Itsuka and Momo.

Vlad nodded and crossed his arms. "Just for a short period. Today's training is lighter than the previous days so the students can get sufficient rest before the exam tomorrow, but it's a good chance for them to test their special moves out in some live combat exercises. It also gives them some time to break in any costume changes they've had made."

"They need to get to know their sister class better, as well," Aizawa muttered. "The training camp was supposed to start that, but it got cut short. This is the best way for them to form friendships or rivalries with one another at the moment. It won't matter for the exam since both classes will be applying at different venues, though."

"I see," Toshinori's gaze trailed over the gym, watching each pair in turn as they battled an Ectoplasm clone or fought one another under a clone's guidance. Several of the students were wearing updated costumes, like Denki and Eijirou, and others, like Katsuki, had stuck to their original style.

His eyes eventually found Izuku halfway through his scan of the spars, where the green-haired teenager was engaged in a sparring match with Setsuna under Ectoplasm's close supervision.

Like some of the other students, Izuku had also undergone a change to his costume's design. While the base design and color scheme remained the same from its Beta Version, the Gamma Version had added iron armor soles to his boots that would increase the destructive effects of his kicks. In addition, his white gloves now stretched up just past his elbows and were built into arm braces that would minimize the damage his arms took during combat.

At a passing glance, they seemed to be very small changes in terms of appearance, but Toshinori could tell immediately that the equipment was designed that way; to be simple and maneuverable, yet significant enough to have a really big effect.

If the loud clang of steel pulverizing concrete when Izuku slammed a missed kick into the ground didn't make that obvious, Toshinori wasn't sure what would.

Setsuna had leapt away from the attack and backpedaled after she landed, taking a second to regain her bearings and catch her breath. A dark, reptilian tail swished behind her as she studied the damage he'd done. "Damn! That was some impact!"

"Thanks," Izuku replied, giving the other teen a chance to recover at Ectoplasm's command. This wasn't all-out combat and the teachers didn't want the students to take any major damage, so they were given breaks if there was an intense exchange.

Ectoplasm looked at Setsuna. "Any loss of control?"

"Nah, I'm still going strong!" Setsuna grinned, flexing razor-sharp talons on her hands. "Lemme return the favor!"

Ectoplasm's gaze flicked to Izuku. "And you?"

Izuku smirked and the emerald plasma sparked a bit more wildly around his body. "I'm ready."

The clone nodded. "Go!"

Setsuna and Izuku lunged at each other, the fiery boy jumping over and flipping so he was positioned behind the reptilian girl. It was the same move he'd used to attack Setsuna just a moment ago, and she wasn't having it.

"Not happening!" She snapped, spinning around with Izuku and stopping his fiery kick with a swing of her own leg, which became covered in scales as sharp claws grew on her feet. The attacks slammed into one another with a powerful impact, but Izuku was the stronger of the two and knocked Setsuna's leg aside.

Unfortunately, Setsuna wasn't going to be bested so easily- she kept spinning and Izuku yelped as her tail slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. As he was sent sprawling over the ground, she grinned at him with sharp fangs bared and started to pace from side to side.

Ectoplasm's clone watched her warily. "You're getting worked up again."

"I'm fine," she replied dismissively, tail thrashing. "Can you keep going, green-bean?"

Izuku leapt back to his feet in an instant. "Of course!"

"Good!" Setsuna hissed excitedly, eyes flashing with wild energy.

She lunged at him in a blur of speed, the reptilian legs making her that much faster. Izuku barely managed to flip over her as she rushed past him, slashing her claws into the space where he'd been just an instant before. He drove the back of his heel into her shoulder and sent the girl sprawling.

Setsuna hit the ground face-first and skidded along the concrete for a short distance. Izuku landed and turned, a bit concerned that he might've hurt her, but that concern quickly faded as she forced herself back up and whipped around.

Her eyes went wild as her now-bleeding face became covered in scales, a vicious snarl escaping her mouth. _"That hurt."_

Ectoplasm's clone quickly moved between them. "That's enough, Setsuna. Undo your transfor-"

The clone exploded as Setsuna blitzed through it with a flash of razor-sharp talons and tore it in half. She rushed at Izuku with a predatory shriek, leaping into the air and aiming to rake him with her clawed feet.

Startled by the sudden change of demeanor and her new, deadly speed, Izuku froze.

 _Flashing sharp teeth-_

 _Trapped-_

 _No other choice-_

Izuku's arms surged with huge bolts of plasma and the look in his eyes became disturbingly intense. Setsuna loosed another animalistic screech as she descended upon him, fangs bared and claws splayed out.

 _Dea-_

Smack!

"OW!" Izuku and Setsuna yelped as they crashed into each other in a tangle of limbs and colliding heads. Dazed and disoriented, it took them a few moments to gather themselves and understand what had just happened. Izuku blinked as he realized his flames were gone, and Setsuna's scales and claws had fallen from her body in a coat of shed skin while her tail had simply fallen from her lower back and was twitching uselessly on the ground.

"What are you two doing?" Aizawa stalked over to them with an annoyed grunt, his eyes momentarily fixated on Izuku. "I thought you were told not to overdo things with your arms. Don't just throw 100% shots because you feel like it."

"Sorry!" Izuku apologized as he and Setsuna helped each other up. "Sorry! I-I uh, I guess I got carried away!"

His teacher quirked an eyebrow up and blinked, returning Izuku's power to him. "Don't let it happen again."

"Yes, sir!"

"Setsuna, you too!" The girl flinched as Aizawa turned his annoyed gaze to her. "This is a spar, you know. Don't go shredding the other students."

"Ehehe…" She laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head gingerly. "My bad, my bad!"

"'Your bad' huh…" Ectoplasm walked over with a slightly irritated expression. "I know I've told you before not to get caught up in the adrenaline of your predator forms, haven't I? If you can't help yourself, stick to the more docile transformations."

Setsuna grinned cheerily. Her skin was paler than normal because of the fresh shed. "I know, but when I get into a fight like that, I just get so excited!"

"Well contain your excitement enough to stay rational," Aizawa told her. He looked at Ectoplasm. "Make another clone for them, please."

"Will do."

Aizawa glanced at Izuku as he walked back to Toshinori and Vlad, eyes wary. It seemed their suspicions that Izuku hadn't quite mentally recovered from his kidnapping were correct.

"Well?" Toshinori asked him quietly.

"It seems he responded on reflex," Aizawa replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets and keeping an eye on Izuku and Setsuna as they got back into the spar. "But he was definitely attacking with the intent to kill."

Vlad's jaw clenched. "I read the reports about what he was put through while he was held captive, but I'd hoped he'd be able to reign in that kind of force against a fellow student."

"If you think about it, all of the fights he's had lately have been life or death conflicts," Aizawa pointed out. "These spars are the first time he's been in combat since he went up against Viper. Before that, it was those Noumu things they threw at him for "training" and then that Muscular guy. It's not unusual for people who have been put through similar situations to come out of them with more aggression than before."

Toshinori nodded, feeling a pang of guilt for what his protege was going through. He regretted more than anything that Izuku had been forced to fight that way; in the end, he'd come out of those conflicts with more than just physical scars…

He needed to have a talk with Izuku later.

* * *

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut as he worked shampoo through his hair, then leaned his head forward under the pleasant spray of the shower. He stood there for a while, enjoying the warmth and cleansing feel of the water flowing over his body. God, a shower always felt like pure heaven after working out for hours.

Around him in the other stalls, several of the guys were cleaning themselves off as well. After changing out of their costumes in the locker rooms, the teens had all retreated to the 1-A dorms to shower and get into some fresh clothes to do as they pleased for the rest of the day. Mr. Aizawa and the other teachers had gone easy on them today so they wouldn't be exhausted for the exam tomorrow, and the extra rest was much appreciated.

"Maaaaaaan, it doesn't get any better than this!" Denki groaned in relief from a few stalls over.

Rikido's voice grunted back. "You can say that again."

"What are you guys planning on doing for the rest of the day?" Izuku asked them, his eyes still closed as he turned his body to let the water flow down his shoulders, chest, and back.

"What else? Imma chill out!" Denki announced like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Same," Hanta agreed. "I heard the girls saying they were gonna hang out with the girls from Class B after training, so it seems they're gonna be at the B dorms for a while."

"Rikido, can you still teach me how to make that cake from last week?" Shoto asked the other teen.

"Sure thing, man! I'm in the mood to bake again, anyways."

"I'm gonna search for some new porn in my room."

There was a moment of silence in the showers as the other boys just rolled their eyes in exasperation.

"Oh come on! Why can't you guys act like guys for once!?" Minoru complained.

"What do you mean?! No decent human being just talks about searching up inappropriate material like that!" Tenya scolded him.

"Man, I'm still trying to decide if you're a human or a robot! What about the rest of you?! Why can't you live a little!" The grape shot back.

Shoto sighed. "I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this, but for the sake of fairness, what entitles a normal 'guy' conversation for you, Minoru?"

"Well, how about we talk about the girls?! Have you seen the hot pieces of-"

The sound of explosions had Minoru faltering, then a dangerous growl sent a shiver up his spine. "You got a death wish, grape!?"

"The awesome girls in our class?!" Minoru corrected himself squeakily.

"What about them?" Shoto asked.

"Oh, don't pretend some of you haven't thought of them in _that_ kind of way!"

Izuku practically saw a hand chopping from the way Tenya's voice turned stern. "That is no way to speak or think of our female classmates!"

"Zip it, robocop! Let the rest of us be human for a change!" Minoru said rebelliously. "Well?! We're all guys here, aren't we?! Let's be honest with each other! Who's the hottest in our class?!"

"Probably Izuku or Shoto."

Several startled, dumbstruck noises filled the room. Shoto seemed to be at a loss as to how he was supposed to respond, but Izuku felt his face go bright red and he made a high-pitched shrieking, "HUH!?"

Eijirou sniggered at the reactions his statement had received. "He asked who the hottest was! You guys can make fire, your temperatures are obviously the hottest in the class!"

Katsuki started cackling uproariously and Izuku buried his face in his hands as he grew so hot that he was no longer sure if it was the water or his skin steaming.

"That's not what I meant!" Minoru protested.

"Then be specific!" Eijirou chuckled.

"I'm talking about the girls! Who's the hottest girl in our class?!"

"The temperature of the average human being is normally accepted as ninety-eight point six degrees fahrenheit or thirty-seven degrees celsius, and seeing as none of the girls in our class have temperature-altering Quirks-"

"Will you quit being a smartass?!"

Many of the guys in the room were laughing now, ranging from small chuckles to Katsuki's loud cackling. Izuku managed to force away his embarrassment and started to clean himself with body wash while the laughter died down a bit.

"Well without sounding vulgar about it, you're asking us which of the girls is most attractive?" Fumikage queried.

"Sure, let's do the boring tame version," Minoru griped. Seeking to turn the tables on his nemesis, the short teenager immediately fired a shot. "What do you think, Katsuki? You've been getting awfully comfy with Momo lately!"

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't play it off! Denki told me she was playing with your hair on the couch the other day!"

"What the hell are you gossiping about, Pikachu?! You wanna die?!"

"Don't drag me into this!" Denki yelped in fear.

Mashirao raised his voice over them. "You can't deny it's pretty weird for _you_ to let someone do that, Katsuki. I'm kind of curious myself. What's going on with you and Momo?"

Katsuki growled. "You guys are fucking delusional. She challenges me, that's all. She's worth more of my time than the greater majority of you other fuckers in the class."

"Hey!" Hanta protested. "That's cold, man!"

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are to have the attention of a babe like Momo?" Minoru retorted. "Don't be a dick about it!"

"Then don't ask me stupid fucking questions! We've only got three years to become heroes and you wanna waste time trying to get lucky with the girls or some shit? The villains ain't gonna just sit pretty and wait because you wanna screw around!"

"Oh, come on, man! Can you not be an asshole for once and just be a normal teenage guy? You can't seriously tell me you haven't thought of Momo like that even a single time!" Minoru threw back.

"Even if I had, it's not something I'm gonna share with you, you damn grape!"

"You're no fun!"

"Kiss my ass," Katsuki snapped. "Drop the topic and pick something else, or shut the fuck up and get lost. I'm trying to enjoy the water."

Tenya spoke up quickly. "Indeed! This behavior is not conduct proper of U.A students!"

Izuku sighed in relief as the conversation came to an end and he finished cleaning himself. He turned the water off, dried himself with his towel, and then left the stall to go change into his clothes.

As he reached for his shirt, he spotted Mashirao leaving the showers to get changed as well, but didn't say anything. Surprisingly, however, Mashirao called to him. "Izuku, would you mind if I had a word with you in the courtyard?"

Izuku looked up, a little startled with his shirt halfway down his arms. "Um, sure?"

"Thanks. Five minutes good with you?"

"Y-yeah. See you then."

Mashirao nodded and then went to get himself dressed. Izuku finished pulling his shirt over his head as he pondered what the tailed teenager wanted to talk about…

* * *

With some trepidation, Izuku made his way to the courtyard and waited. He wasn't sure what his classmate would want to talk about. They hardly interacted; Mashirao had been content to ignore Izuku for a while now and Izuku couldn't really find a way to approach him about it.

Admittedly, he was pretty sure Mashirao had spent the last few months pretending he didn't exist after finding out that Izuku was Heat Viper's child, but he hadn't wanted to pry. He didn't know much about the tailed teenager and it felt invasive to ask him—it would make Izuku feel incredibly guilty if he found out that Viper had killed someone in Mashirao's family or someth—

Izuku jumped as he heard the courtyard doors open behind him and spun around, silently gulping as he watched Mashirao step outside and close the door.

"H-hi," Izuku squeaked out.

"Hey," Mashirao muttered, averting his eyes from Izuku. He lifted his hand to the back of his head and scratched at his hair awkwardly. "Erm…give me a sec, I'm not sure how to really say this."

"N-no problem."

The tailed teen was quiet for a few minutes, said tail slowly flitting from side to side. Eventually, he sighed and crossed his arms. "Okay, I've been thinking about how to talk to you for a while, but nothing I thought of really works, so I'm gonna give you the short version. This is…this is kind of an apology, but not really."

Izuku tilted his head in confusion. "Um…what?"

"You're a pretty observant guy, so I'm sure you know I've been avoiding you, right?" Mashirao raised a brow until Izuku nodded slowly before he continued. "I started avoiding you because of your dad."

"I figured that was what was going on," Izuku replied meekly, fidgeting in place. "I…I wanted to ask about it, but I didn't want to be rude…"

"It's no big deal," Mashirao dismissed. "When I found out about your dad, I'll admit I was pissed off. It feels unfair for you to be at U.A when there are a bunch of other kids who could be in the hero course—ones that lost something they love because of Heat Viper. A bunch of families will probably never recover after all the destruction he caused, and yet you get to just…walk around free. That didn't seem fair to me.

"I felt angry that you were just able to come to U.A without a care in the world, but then I saw you fighting Viper on TV and well…I figured out that you didn't want to be involved with him. I know I didn't come by the hospital with the others, but the news was saying you got pretty messed up in that fight, huh?"

Izuku nodded and bit his lip. "Y-yeah. Truth is, my arms were so badly damaged that I can't afford for them to be hurt like that again. If they are, I might not be able to use them properly."

Mashirao pondered that in silence for a few moments. "You were fighting for your life out there, weren't you?"

"…Yeah." Izuku hesitated before he added nervously, "Mashirao…This might seem pretty small compared to what the families of the victims suffered, but it's not like my mother and I weren't affected by what Viper did. As soon as my Quirk appeared, people were scared and angry at me. I understand why; it's not like I believe I've suffered more than the families who lost their loved ones, or anything! It's just…I guess what I'm trying to say is, I want him to answer for what he's put my mother and I through just as much as everyone else."

"…Okay," Mashirao said at last. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and believe that you really don't want anything to do with Heat Viper. But I'm still not totally cool with you."

"Eh?"

"After seeing you fight Viper the way you did in Kamino, I can buy that you aren't on his side," Mashirao told him, looking at the ground with a slight frown as he tapped his foot. "I still need some time personally to accept that; it's nothing against you. But the thing is…I saw how you almost attacked Setsuna earlier today during training. You were really going to hit her with everything you had."

Izuku cringed. He'd kind of hoped no one but the teachers had seen that. "I-it was an accident. I…"

He pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "It's complicated. I don't want to hurt any of you, I swear…I just…Some stuff happened while I was being held hostage and I guess I'm still trying to realize that I don't have to fight for my life every time. I-I'm sure that with enough time, I'll be able to control myself."

"Is that so?" Mashirao mused. "I guess I believe you- you've been a pretty good student since school began. Just…you know. Prove me and everyone else wrong, ok? Until I'm sure beyond a shadow of doubt that you definitely want to be a hero, I'm going to keep an eye on you."

Izuku nodded, a little sad that Mashirao still doubted him, but glad that the other boy was being honest and giving him a chance. "Thanks."

Mashirao offered him an awkward smile. "I'm sorry I started avoiding you without saying anything, but I need some time to really be comfortable with you. So…yeah. That's all I wanted to say. I guess I'll see you later."

"Sure," Izuku agreed, watching as Mashirao went back inside.

He rubbed the back of his head as he processed their conversation. It hurt to know that his classmate didn't trust him, but…they'd gotten over a hurdle with this. Izuku would definitely prove that he wasn't going to be a villain- he would be a hero and show Mashirao that this chance he'd given Izuku wasn't for nothing.

The sudden vibrating of his phone in his pocket had Izuku jumping. He fumbled the device out and unlocked the screen, blinking at the text he'd received. It was from All Might.

 ** _Care to meet me in my office for a late lunch? Got some stuff to tell you!_**

Izuku felt his curiosity roused. What did All Might want to talk about? He started walking into the dorms as he messaged his mentor back that he'd be at the office ASAP. All he needed to do was throw his shoes on and he could jog over there now.

As Izuku stuffed his phone back into his pocket and closed the door behind him, he looked up in the direction of the living room and almost tripped over his own two feet.

Katsuki was sitting on the couch—in his towel.

The blonde teen looked up at Izuku, the scowl on his face disappearing somewhat. "Hi."

"Why?" Izuku managed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"That fucking grape and Pikachu stole my clothes from the shower," Katsuki growled, a vicious, demented grin crossing his face. "I caught them trying to sneak out and it seems they panicked and ran outside somewhere. So I'm gonna sit right here and wait for them. They gotta come through those doors sooner or later."

Izuku wasn't even sure what to say. Only Katsuki would have the brass balls to sit in the lobby, naked save the towel covering him from the waist-down, and not give a single shit about what anyone thought so he could get revenge.

He was just that petty and it didn't even surprise Izuku.

Shaking his head again, Izuku went to go put his shoes on while Katsuki turned the TV on to kill some time. "Have fun. I'm going to get lunch."

Katsuki grunted as he flipped through the channels and Izuku shot one more glance at the back of his friend's head before he left the door. He couldn't help but smirk.

Poor Minoru and Denki had no idea what they were coming back to.

* * *

At the 1-B dorms, all of the girls from both sister classes had gathered up and were hanging out in the common room, which was basically identical to the 1-A counterpart. Itsuka had managed to politely get the boys from her class to go elsewhere (and in the case of Neito, knocked his ass out and had Yosetsu take him to his room) so they could have some actual girl time.

Momo had taken a seat on the couch beside Kyoka and Toru, and offered a smile at Itsuka as she walked back to them after seeing Yosetsu and Neito off at the elevator. "Thank you for inviting us over."

"Don't sweat it," Itsuka replied cheerily. "I think this is actually the first time we've gotten to hang out when we aren't working ourselves to the bone."

Setsuna, who was sitting next to Tsuyu on the smaller couch, grinned at the 1-A girls. "Yeah, we deserve to have a little fun after all that hard work! And we barely know you guys!"

Tsuyu nodded. "That's true. Outside of the training camp, we haven't gotten to talk to you guys much at all."

"Speaking of the camp, did you all come out of that alright?" Mina asked, a small frown of concern on her face.

"We're all fine now," Ibara said politely, sipping from a cup of tea she'd just made. "Most of our class was affected by the gas, but Itsuka and Tetsutetsu put the villain causing it out of commission. Fortunately, we didn't suffer any severe injuries. What about you?"

"Everyone is recovering," Momo confirmed. "We suffered more…serious wounds, but we all came out of it alive. Actually, I really must thank Yosetsu soon. If he hadn't been able to carry me out of there, that Noumu would probably have killed me."

Itsuka's smile became sympathetic. "Yosetsu's got a pretty nasty mouth on him, but I'll be the first to admit that he's serious and willing to throw himself into danger for the sake of others when it counts. You'll probably get some sarcastic reply from him like "don't screw up again" or something like that."

Ochako giggled. "He sounds like Katsuki!"

"Katsuki's a lot louder than Yosetsu, though," Kinoko pointed out, biting into a mushroom she'd taken from a plastic container in the fridge.

"Well aside from myself," Momo went on. "The only serious injuries our class suffered were Izuku's."

"It was still really close though," Kyoka scowled, crossing her arms. "That psycho blonde chick popped out of nowhere and tried to stab Tsuyu and I."

"It was a frightful experience," Reiko said quietly, clasping her hands together a little more firmly. Beside her, Yui nodded silently.

Itsuka clapped her hands a few times. "Come on, now! Enough with the doom and gloom!We all came out of this alive, right? Everyone is fine now, so let's have some real introductions and learn more about each other!"

Toru threw both arms up into the air. "Finally, some good stuff!"

"You guys had to do class introductions too, right? Let's do something similar! We'll start since we invited you guys over," Itsuka announced, placing a hand on her chest. "I'm Itsuka Kendo. My Quirk is called Big Fist, and it basically allows me to enlarge my hands. I love motorcycles! Ibara, your turn!"

Ibara took a sip of her tea before she introduced herself. "Very well. I'm Ibara Shiozaki. My Quirk is called Vines; I can manipulate the vines on my head as I please. My hobby is gardening."

"Me next!" Setsuna volunteered happily. "I'm Setsuna Tokage! My Quirk is called Lizard Tail Cut. It lets me change my body to be like that of a reptile's, but I can only transform for so long before it sheds off and my skin gets sensitive. Anyways, I'm a total dinosaur geek! I even started naming some of my special moves after them! Just wait until you see my Rex Bite!"

She snapped her teeth with a wide, joking grin, causing the other girls to laugh.

Itsuka looked over at Kinoko. "You wanna go next Kinoko?"

"Sure," the girl replied, still munching on her snack. "I'm Kinoko Komori. My Quirk is Mushroom, and my favorite food is mushrooms."

"That sounds kind of like cannibalism," Mina said with a little smirk.

Kinoko snorted and popped another shroom into her mouth. "Not exactly."

"Can I go next?" Pony asked Itsuka, lighting up when the other girl nodded. Looking cheery now, she leaned forward in her seat, kicking her hoofed feet back and forth playfully. "I'm Pony Tsunotori! My Quirk is Horn Cannon and I'm half-and-half!"

"What she means is she's half-foreigner," Itsuka filled in when she saw a few confused expressions from the 1-A girls. "Pony is actually from America. She's still learning the language, just…don't be too surprised if she says something vulgar out of nowhere- Neito keeps trying to teach her to say bad things about your class."

Ochako sweat-dropped. "That guy really has no boundaries, huh?"

"That's putting it lightly," Setsuna sniggered, lazing back against the couch. "Sounds like he's not as bad as that grape dude in your class, though."

Kyoka grimaced. "Ugh, don't remind me."

Reiko continued the train of introductions on her own. "I'm Reiko Yanagi. My Quirk is called Poltergeist. It-"

"It's terrifying," Toru shivered in her seat. "You scared the crap out of Hitoshi and I during the test of courage!"

Reiko smirked a little, evidently proud of herself for that. "My favorite hobby is surfing. I picked it up when I went on vacation a couple of years ago."

Itsuka glanced at Yui, who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation. "Yui, would you like to go now?"

Yui hesitated, but she nodded after a moment and spoke up, albeit quietly. "I'm Yui Kodai. My Quirk is Size- it lets me change the size of my body. I like Matryoshka dolls."

"Oh!" Mina shot a grin at Momo. "Momo, do it, do it!"

Momo smiled a little and held her hand out. From her open palm, a little Matryoshka doll popped out. Yui's eyes lit up as Momo offered her the fresh creation, which she accepted. "I create these for fun sometimes. I was actually using them for training at the camp."

"Looks like you two are gonna get along great," Itsuka grinned, throwing an arm around Yui. Her quiet friend was smiling at the doll and admiring it. "Yui's a bit shy, but she's my best girl!"

"Hey, you can't pick favorites, Class Prez!" Setsuna complained good-naturedly, to which Itsuka stuck her tongue out at the other girl and winked.

"Our turn!" Ochako cheered.

After the 1-A girls introduced themselves to the girls of their sister class, their group started chattering about anything and nothing, ranging from their special moves to funny events that happened in their classes on a regular basis.

"Send me that video!" Setsuna cackled, beating the couch in her laughter after Mina showed her the clip of Katsuki punting Minoru sky high. "Please! I _need_ it!"

"I knew I sensed a kindred spirit in ya, girl!" Mina sniggered, putting in Setsuna's number at her direction while Kinoko tried and failed to contain her chortles on Mina's other side.

Ibara sipped from her tea as she continued to explain to Ochako and Momo the details of how she cared for some of the plants in her garden. "I wasn't able to bring many of them over to the dorms, but I filled my veranda with as many as I could. It's mostly natural herbs and spices I use for cooking."

"I had no idea there was so much work that goes into caring for plants," Ochako muttered, frankly dazed by the amount of information she'd just received. It was like listening to Izuku go on and on about heroes. Ibara was obviously very dedicated to her hobby.

"Perhaps you could teach me how to keep some of these herbs?" Momo asked Ibara curiously while she created another Matryoshka doll for Yui. "I'd like to see how they change the flavor of my favorite tea."

Ibara nodded, a small smile pulling up the corners of her lips. "I'd be happy to teach you."

"You say it like this," Kyoka repeated when Pony gave her a slightly confused look. She was trying to help Pony get a better grasp for the names of her classmates. "Yao-yo-ro-zu."

"So it's…Momo Yao-yor-ozu?" She tried again, a little helplessly.

"You're getting it," Kyoka told her encouragingly. "We have a nickname for her that's a bit easier. Try Yao-momo."

"Yao-momo," Pony repeated, grinning as she said it. "I like that."

Reiko gave Toru a conspiratorial smirk. "We should team up in a haunted house sometime. That'd be fun."

"Oooh, I could get behind that!" Toru bounced in her seat excitedly.

Itsuka crouched in front of the TV and glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the girls. "Hey, would you all like to watch a movie?"

"I'd like that," Tsuyu agreed.

"Let's watch Jurassic Park!" Setsuna exclaimed, diving for the movies beside Itsuka.

Ochako looked at the time on her phone. "Sure, I can watch a movie for a bit before I hit the gym."

Tsuyu glanced at her friend. "Are we supposed to meet with Nejire again?"

"No, she said today was her rest day," Ochako replied. "But I was gonna get in an easy workout to settle my nerves a bit before the exam."

"Don't overdo things," Momo warned her. "You don't want to pull a muscle."

"I'll be careful," Ochako promised.

"S-Setsuna! Don't throw the movies around like that!"

"I need my daily dose of dinosaurs!"

"Doesn't your Quirk let you turn into a dinosaur, though?" Tsuyu pointed out.

"Yeah!" Setsuna grinned, holding her movie up triumphantly as she opened up the DVD player. "It's a bit more complicated than that, though. My Quirk is kind of like Momo's—I gotta know a lot about the animals I'm gonna transform into to make the transformation good, so I watch a bunch of movies and documentaries. Well, Jurassic Park's animals aren't totally accurate, but it's still a fun movie!"

Momo blinked at her curiously. "Is that why you lost control training with Izuku today?"

"Saw that, didja?" Setsuna rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "That's not exactly what happened. If I don't know a lot about the reptile I'm changing into, most of the time the transformation only goes part of the way through or it doesn't work. The problem is when I use a predator transformation, like a Raptor, the hunter's instincts kinda get the better of me and I get excited. I can't help but go all-out!"

Ibara gave her friend a slightly exasperated look. "You're excitable all the time, anyways. When she changes into an iguana, she keeps trying to eat my hair."

"Pfft!" Mina sniggered. "I gotta see that."

* * *

Izuku took a breath before knocking on the door to All Might's office. After just a second, the familiar deep voice called to him, "Come in!"

He walked inside, closing the door behind him and smiling at his mentor politely. "Hi, All Might."

"How's it going, kiddo?" the former hero grinned back from his seat, waving at the teenager. "You get yourself all cleaned up after the spars?"

"Yes, sir," Izuku nodded, moving to sit in the chair across from All Might. Toshinori leaned over in his seat, reaching down to the mini-fridge beside his desk to pull out a pair of boxed lunches. After extracting them, he put the cold food into the microwave and set the timer.

While they waited for the food to warm up, Toshinori offered Izuku some tea, which he gratefully accepted. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Izuku sipped at his drink for a moment before looking up at his teacher. "So, what'd you want to talk about?"

"Several things, actually," Toshinori remarked, watching the timer on the microwave count down. "First and foremost, I need to talk to you about what happened during your spar with Setsuna."

The boy cringed slightly. His mentor offered him a reassuring smile. "Easy, kiddo. I'm not going to gripe at you. But I want you to be honest with me, okay?"

Izuku merely nodded, looking down into his cup. The timer went off and Toshinori removed the now-steaming lunches from the microwave, setting one each in front of himself and the teenager across him.

The former Symbol of Peace sipped at his tea for a few moments as he thought about where to begin. This wasn't the first time he'd had this talk; he had done this enough to know that each person was unique and needed to be approached differently. Izuku was comfortable with him, but he was reserved and quiet by nature.

It'd be best to ease him into it instead of jump into the deep end. At the same time, he couldn't afford to beat around the bush or avoid things.

"Do you remember the psychologist the doctors assigned to you while you were in the hospital?" Toshinori asked.

Izuku nodded again, his fingers tightening a bit around the cup. "Yes. I thought he said I was in the clear, though."

"There's always the chance they missed something," All Might told him. "Your behavior has been pretty standard from what I've observed since the Kamino Ward incident, but you lost control today, did you not?"

"Y-yeah. It was just for a moment, but I felt like I was fighting the Noumu again," he replied quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. You came out of your imprisonment more stable than I ever dared to hope. This is something we'll just have to work on, okay?" Toshinori murmured comfortingly. "But I need to know if you've been experiencing anything else like that. Anything at all, even if it's something you think of as minor."

"Like what?"

"Loss of appetite?" Toshinori queried, leaning against the desk on his elbows. Izuku shook his head, so he went on. "Trouble sleeping?"

At that, the boy hesitated before responding. "I…I'm not sure if it's trouble sleeping, but ever since the attack, there are times that I wake up and I feel tired or nervous. I don't think I'm having nightmares, or maybe I just forget them when I wake up."

"How often?"

"Pretty infrequently…maybe three or four times since I got out of the hospital?"

"Recently?"

"Not since we started training again."

"Hmm…that might be because you're sleeping more fitfully. You've been working out a lot, so your body is tired more often as a result. Still, if you start experiencing that again, please let me know."

Izuku nodded. Toshinori went on, "Have you startled like you did with Setsuna anywhere else?"

The teenager bit his lip. "When I went to the Support Department to have my costume upgraded, Hatsume surprised me and I almost burned her hand."

"Okay. Any other times?"

"No."

"Have you had any phantom pain?"

"No."

"Alright." Toshinori turned to his computer and typed for several moments. "I don't think what's going on is your usual jumpiness, so when school starts again, I want you to start seeing the school counselor. You aren't showing signs of what would be considered PTSD, but I'd rather us be safe than sorry, okay? Trust me, it's better to catch this stuff early."

Izuku looked at his mentor curiously. "Have you ever…?"

"Yes," he answered immediately, prodding at his food with his chopsticks as he wondered what to eat first. "I've seen things I hope you never have to, Izuku. Things that really messed with me. That's just part of being a hero; not all of your injuries are going to be physical. It comes with the job. When you get hurt like that, it's in your best interest to see someone who can help you."

He let that sink in before adding, "And you know that if there's ever something you aren't comfortable talking about with the counselor or your friends, you can always come to your mother or myself. You can come to us for _anything_. Do you understand?"

Izuku smiled a bit and took a bite of his lunch. "Yes, sir."

"Glad to hear it," Toshinori replied before digging into his own meal.

The two of them ate in peace for a while, chatting casually about little things like movies and such. As it turned out, they shared some interests; both liked superhero movies and couldn't stand horror flicks. All Might it seemed had more of a liking for comedies, while Izuku preferred documentaries.

"I-it's not like I don't like them, but umm…" Izuku fiddled his fingers together, smiling bashfully. "I get really bad second-hand embarrassment. There are some times when I'm watching a comedy and I can't help but cover my face or leave the room."

All Might chuckled. "Oh yeah? It sounds like you might have something in common with Mr. Aizawa, then!"

"M-Mr. Aizawa does the same thing?!"

"Whoops, don't tell him I told you that," Toshinori grinned mischievously. "He's pretty good at hiding it most of the time, but I've seen some comedies with him and the other teachers. He has a tendency to come in that sleeping bag of his and when we get to embarrassing parts of the movie, he zips himself up."

Izuku tried to hold in a snort, but couldn't. It was an odd thing, imagining Aizawa embarrassed enough by a movie to hide in his sleeping bag. He probably grumbled about how illogical the film was as an excuse, too.

They trailed off into a comfortable silence for a few minutes as they finished their lunch. After taking the last bite of his meal, Toshinori decided now was as good a time as any to breach another topic with his protégé.

"Izuku, you remember how we talked about Himiko Toga after you came home from the hospital?"

The boy paused mid-bite and looked up at Toshinori a little uncertainly. "Yeah…"

"I thought you might like to know that I've been doing some digging into her case," Toshinori went on, piquing Izuku's interest if the slight frown on his face said anything. "Before I go on, I need to remind you that what I said before stands; whatever happens with her, she's going to be in an institution for a long time once she's captured. There's no getting around that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I didn't bring this up to drive that point further, though—I think the talk we had at your home was enough for that. Tsukauchi and I had a long talk about what was happening with her, and he thinks that depending on the exact state of her condition, she could avoid being sent to prison for life. That doesn't mean she can be set free—she'd have to be in an institution for a long time and I'm not sure what might happen after that. At this point, my investigation is for the sole purpose of trying to get her into the best institution we can. That's the best we can do for her right now."

Izuku bit his lip and nodded. "Okay. Can you tell me what you found out?"

"I can't say much," Toshinori admitted. "This is still a national security investigation and since Himiko is involved with the League of Villains, her current information isn't something I can just give you. What I _can_ tell you is that I think there's more to what's going on with her based on her history. Did she tell you she was kidnapped when she was twelve?"

The teenager's eyes widened in alarm. _"What?!"_

"I'll take that as a no," the former Symbol of Peace said grimly. "Himiko was missing for two years after she was kidnapped. She reappeared when she was fourteen, and that's when she started her killing spree. Did she mention any of this to you?"

"N-no," Izuku replied shakily, running a hand through his hair as he processed that. "B-but she said that thinking about what happened makes her head feel weird. I told you that, remember?"

"I remember. I'm especially interested in that," Toshinori said. "Tsukauchi and I think that something happened to her after she was kidnapped. What it was, I have no idea, but depending on the circumstances, arguing her case would be easier with that information."

He held up a hand as Izuku opened his mouth, giving the boy a steady look. "I say again, I'm not telling you this to get your hopes up that Himiko could be set free, Izuku. There is a _preciously_ small chance that is ever going to happen. But I want you to know that I think you were onto something when you told us what was going on with her. If nothing else, the odds of her getting help are that much better because of you."

Izuku nodded, fighting to kept the corners of his lips from rising—he was happy that there was a chance—however slight—for Himiko to be saved, and that All Might had praised him for finding that chance. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You've done enough," Toshinori told him. "Leave the rest to Tsukauchi and I, okay? He's interested in Himiko's case too because her father was a detective before he died. We'll do our best to get her help, okay? If you think of something we might have missed, by all means, bring it to me, but don't go looking for trouble. You've been in plenty of that lately."

Izuku couldn't stop the sheepish smile on his face this time. "Yes, sir."

"Atta boy," Toshinori smiled back and thumped the desk casually with his hand. "Right then, I've taken up enough of your time. Get outta here and relax with your friends. You've got a big test tomorrow; you need to be in tip-top shape."

The teenager rolled his eyes, still smiling. "Yes, _dad."_

Both of them froze in surprise for a few moments as they processed what Izuku had just said, then the boy started sputtering, waving his hands in a panic as red-hot embarrassment spread over his face. "I-I-I D-DIDN'T M-MEAN TO—I-IT WAS AN ACCIDENT! A-AN ACCIDENT!"

Toshinori wasn't even sure what to say at first to the horrified teenager, and he didn't get the chance as Izuku literally bolted out of his office. The former Symbol of Peace just stared dubiously at the empty space for a minute in complete shock.

He walked over to close the door, and slowly a smile spread over his face and warmth blossomed in his chest. It might've been an accident, but Toshinori was pretty happy to hear that particular word coming from Izuku.

* * *

Izuku was still fanning his face to rid himself of the heat as he hurried back to the dorm. He couldn't believe he'd said that to All Might! It had just slipped out and—oh god, how was he supposed to talk to his mentor when school started next week?!

"Deku!"

He jumped and spun around, spotting Ochako as she jogged down the path after him. The brunette tilted her head curiously when she reached him. "Are you okay? You're really red."

"I-I'm fine!" he stammered, causing Ochako to blink owlishly. "I-I-I was just, uh, I was running!"

"If you say so," she replied, falling into step beside him. "You wanted to get in a work out, huh?"

"Y-yeah. I've got a little too much energy right now. I don't think I'll be able to sleep too well."

Ochako hummed thoughtfully. "Wanna hit the gym with me, then? I was just on my way there. Tsuyu and the others are still hanging out with the 1-B girls at their dorm."

"Erm," Izuku looked down at his clothes. He was wearing shorts and a simple t-shirt, so it wasn't like he had to run back to his room and change. "S-sure."

"Great! I still have a spotting buddy!"

With that, the two of them made their way to the gym, jogging steadily to warm up. As they got closer, Izuku was able to push the embarrassment of his talk with All Might aside and focus more on what Ochako wanted to do in the workout.

"Nejire said today was a rest day for us—she pushes Tsuyu and I really hard!" Ochako told him. "I don't want to do anything intense since we have the test tomorrow, so maybe some light weights and stretches?"

"That sounds good," he agreed, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. "Nejire sounds like a great trainer. I wonder if Mirio or Tamaki would let me work out with them?"

"I could ask Nejire, if you like?"

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd really appreciate that!"

Ochako smiled as they slowed down, having arrived at the gym building. The two of them went inside and made straight for the mats with Ochako in the lead—Izuku hadn't actually come here yet. There weren't a lot of people inside right now, but there were enough for the building to not feel empty.

"Let's go ahead and stretch," Ochako told him, casting a teasing pout at the boy. "No splits this time!"

"Th-that was Katsuki's idea!"

She just laughed and took a spot on the mats, leading the two of them in a series of stretches. As they performed the exercises, Izuku took some time to study the gym, glancing at the equipment and machines with interest. There was a lot of variety, seeing as modifications and extra attachments were sometimes necessary for certain Quirks.

He looked at an equipment desk and blinked at the sight of a trainer renting out what appeared to be a knife to a pair of students. "What's that?"

Ochako followed his gaze and spotted the object of his curiosity. "A practice knife. It's just plastic, but you can rent out stuff like that to use in the sparring rooms for practical training. Nejire told me about it—apparently, Mirio uses equipment like that a lot."

Izuku was kind of interested in that. Ochako caught the pensive expression on his face and grinned, having thought of something fun. "Wanna try it out?"

"What?"

"Knife training!"

He stared at her. "Um, sure. But what are we gonna do?"

"I'll show you. Let's give it a go!"

After finishing their stretches, Ochako led him to the equipment desk and rented a practice knife out with her student ID. She and Izuku then went to one of the sparring rooms—simple, small areas behind bulletproof glass walls with padded mats on the floors. There were several of the rooms, each designed for just a few people at any one time for practical training.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Ochako handed the plastic knife to Izuku. "You can go first."

"What am I supposed to do?"

She took a few steps away from him, rolling her shoulders and smirking confidently. "Try to hit me with that. Do whatever you want, just no Quirks."

Izuku chewed on his lip as he thought about where best to begin. He started to walk around her, tapping the plastic knife against his leg. Ochako turned with him, never letting the boy out of her sight. He found the smirk on her face odd—it wasn't like Ochako lacked confidence by any means, but she seemed a bit too smug right now.

He had started to take another step when instead of completing the motion, he pushed off with his other foot and stabbed at Ochako's belly. In an instant, she darted to the side past his peripheral vision, then grabbed his wrist and the back of his neck. Her ankle caught his and as he tripped, she took the opportunity to shove him face-first into the mat.

Her knee was planted between his shoulder blades as she twisted his arm, forcing him to relinquish the knife. Izuku heard her laughing above him. "Gotcha!"

He suddenly realized his mistake and groaned into the mat. "Wait, you trained with Gunhead!"

"Yep," she giggled cheerily, letting him up and giving the plastic knife a casual twirl. If it was a real blade, she wouldn't have done that, but she was fine with this fake. "It's not like I'm an expert or anything, but I've been practicing what he taught me whenever I can."

Izuku rolled onto his back and looked up at the girl, who seemed _far_ too pleased with herself for getting the jump on him. His eyes narrowed competitively. "Let me try again."

"You wanna get tossed on the mat again?" she challenged him.

"We'll see who gets tossed on the mat!"

They were bold words. Unfortunately, Izuku ate every one of them.

No myriad of tricks on his part managed to catch Ochako off-guard. She was ready for whatever he tried against her and turned it on him. Maybe it was because he'd never fought her before, but he never realized how _fast_ she was. Whenever she flitted out of his vision, he barely had any time to respond before she was throwing him onto the floor and disarming him.

Admittedly, some of the takedowns were a bit sloppy due to her own inexperience, but it didn't change the fact that Izuku got his butt kicked every time.

He got the wind blown out of his lungs as Ochako threw him over her shoulder and tore the knife from his grip at the same time, causing the boy to fall hard on his back. Izuku just lay there, limbs sprawled over the mat in a sweaty mess as he caught his breath.

Ochako was also sweating and panting, but a grin formed once again on her face as she tossed the knife in her hand playfully. "And that's eight to nothing."

"You're keeping score?" he groaned as he sat up.

"Just for fun," she said a little teasingly. Admittedly, she did get serious when they started to fight each time—this was _knife training,_ not a joke. It was all good fun to toss her friend around, but she was gaining experience every time she disarmed him.

Ochako had learned the basics from Gunhead, but that had been all they could fit into her week-long internship. Training with Izuku like this was good for her to expand that skill; his attacks were more random and less predictable, and it was a challenge every time. Even with her edge in experience, they had _both_ worked up quite a sweat.

But seeing as she'd been doing all the tossing thus far, Ochako decided it was time to switch things up. "Okay, your turn to disarm me."

Izuku stood and blinked at her. "How should I do that?"

"Oh yeah, I should probably show you the basics," she realized aloud. She walked up to him and handed him the knife again, then stretched out his arm as though he were making a forward stabbing motion.

Ochako moved to the side where he could still see her and took his wrist into her hand, gripping it firmly. "Ok, so when someone stabs at you like this, you want to get outside of their field of vision in that moment. They'll be lunging at you, so move past them to their side and grab their wrist and the back of their neck. Like this."

Her free hand rose up to clamp the back of his neck, letting him feel him how much pressure he needed to exert. "Once you have them like this, use their momentum to shove them onto their stomach."

Izuku nodded and returned the knife as she let him go. "I think I get it."

Ochako moved in front of him again. "Give it a shot. I'll go easy the first time."

He readied himself quickly, which was just as well because Ochako didn't waste a moment before stabbing at him with a thrusting motion. Izuku scrambled to the side, feeling the plastic scrape past his chest as he grabbed at her wrist and reached up for her neck. As soon as he had her, he tried shoving her down onto her face, but he was off-balance and they both tumbled to the floor with surprised grunts.

"S-sorry!" he stammered. "Are-are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied as she pushed herself up, shaking her hair out of her face. "It takes practice. Are you ready to go again?"

"Sure, but what did I do wrong that time?"

Ochako pursed her lips in thought and tapped the knife against her leg. "Let's see…You didn't move far enough away, for one. You want to be close enough to grab your attacker, but not so close that you still get cut, y'know? And don't try to shove them straight down, either. Push forward and down, kind of at an angle."

Izuku soaked that information in for a few moments and nodded. "Let's try again."

They lined up once more, facing off with the knife in Ochako's hand. She made another stab at him and this time, Izuku managed to dodge the attack. His hands came up to grab her wrist and the back of her neck, and although he wasn't out of her field of vision, he managed to shove her down to the floor this time and pinned her.

"Nice!" Ochako told him, voice muffled by the mat. "You can let me up now."

"O-oh! Right!" Izuku quickly let her go, only to yelp as she jumped up and slashed at him, striking his arm. "Ow! Wh-what was that for?!"

"You forgot to disarm me, you goof," she grinned, tossing the knife up and down playfully. "Throwing me onto the floor won't do you much good if you don't get the weapon away from me!"

His cheek puffed up in a slight pout, but admittedly, he probably deserved that. Ochako had disarmed him every time she took him down, after all. He'd completely forgotten about that.

At least he was learning here with Ochako and not against a villain with an actual weapon.

She pointed the knife at him again and smiled. "Ready?"

Izuku grinned competitively. "When you are."

* * *

At the 1-A dorms, Momo and the rest of her female classmates (sans Ochako) had just returned from their get-together with the 1-B girls. It was starting to get dark and they'd all decided to hit the rack early for the test tomorrow. They'd learned a lot of fun and interesting things about Itsuka and the other girls.

And, as it so happened, they were just now learning that leaving the boys to their own devices for extended periods of time was probably a bad idea. This particular conclusion was drawn by all of them when they walked into the common room and found Katsuki, Eijirou, and Hanta watching television on the couch while Tenya loudly berated the explosive teenager.

Said explosive teenager, by the way, was still sitting in his towel hours after his clothes were stolen by Denki and Minoru.

As soon as the five girls processed what they were looking at, Kyoka and Toru flushed and covered their faces with matching shrieks. Mina's eyebrows almost rose into her hair and while Tsuyu was as unflappable as ever, Momo had to turn away as she shouted at him, her cheeks a furious crimson.

"Katsuki, what are you doing?!"

"What does it look like?!" Katsuki retorted, ignoring her and Tenya's chopping hand in favor of the hunting tiger on TV. "I'm waiting for the two assholes who stole my clothes!"

"You couldn't put _something on_ while you waited?!"

"No chance in hell! The little dweebs might sneak away while I'm upstairs!"

Tsuyu held a finger up to her chin. "What happened?"

Eijirou, who looked utterly unfazed by Katsuki's nakedness, (and had actually decided to share the main couch with him) chuckled. "Minoru and Denki snatched his clothes while he was in the shower and ran outside somewhere. He doesn't want to leave the lobby or he thinks they might get away with it."

Hanta gave Momo a helpless look. "I offered to go grab his clothes, but…"

"None of you are allowed in my room," Katsuki finished irritably.

Hanta held a hand out towards the explosive teen, "…so he says."

Momo turned back to the boys, chewing on her lip in exasperation and refusing to look at Katsuki. For the love of everything good, she'd been having a nice day. A _great_ day. She'd had a good time, but as soon as she came back here…

"Katsuki, go put some clothes on. If you're so worried that they'll get away, Tenya and I will stop and lecture them for it while you're gone, but you are _not_ going to just sit here in the common room wearing nothing!"

"Nope, not gonna happen," he refused her blatantly, crossing his arms over his bare chest and scowling. "I'm gonna sit right here and as soon as they try to sneak through that door, imma fuck them up so bad they're gonna wish their mommas had kept their legs closed."

 _"Katsuki Bakugo, you fix that mouth of yours and put some fucking clothes on!"_

Utter silence filled the room—even Katsuki's eyes flew to the person responsible for yelling at him and his jaw dropped in stunned disbelief.

Momo had already covered her mouth, her face reflecting the shock she'd caused herself for allowing such an unladylike thing to slip out. For several moments, no one was quite sure what to do.

Then Katsuki spotted movement just past Momo by the door. One Minoru Mineta and Denki Kaminari were trying to sneak in while they were distracted.

"You little fuckers!" Katsuki yelled, forgetting his shock in favor of lunging over the couch after the thieves. On reflex, Tenya reached out to stop him, but only managed to catch his towel while Katsuki was airborne and tugged it off.

On TV, the tiger roared loudly.

The girls shrieked and spun away from the sight of him. Denki and Minoru screamed as Katsuki descended on them, buck-ass nude with explosions popping from his hands and the promise of murder in his eyes.

His would-be double homicide was cut off by an expertly-thrown encyclopedia smashing into the back of his head, sending him crashing to the floor and stunning him. Minoru and Denki weren't spared either, as two identical books took them clean in the face and left them concussed.

Momo's face, bright red and steaming, was scrunched up in an embarrassed scowl that would've been adorable if she hadn't just insta-killed three of her classmates. Her unharmed friends were staring at her in a mixture of amazement and terror as she created a blanket and walked over to Katsuki's immobile form, dropping the cloth over his bare ass to cover him up. The teenager managed to twist his head to look at her in a kind of perplexed fury.

She glared down at him, still blushing. "You will go to your room and you will stay there until tomorrow morning, or I am going to tie you up and throw you in there myself."

Minoru, dazed and disoriented, only heard the last bit and muttered incoherently. "Kinky."

Another encyclopedia knocked him out cold. Momo jabbed her finger at the elevator and practically shrieked. "GET! OUT!"

Denki grabbed Minoru's leg and scrambled towards the elevator, fearing the wrath of his vice-president. Katsuki got up a bit more slowly, wrapping the blanket around his waist and scowling at Momo for another moment before he also obeyed her.

As the elevator doors closed, she watched as his lips quirked up in a wide grin and his eyes gleamed. Katsuki couldn't help but fire a last parting shot.

"You're hot when you cuss."

He started to cackle when he heard another encyclopedia slam into the elevator doors. Denki shook his head and not for the first time, questioned his friend's sanity.

* * *

 **A/N: I took a little break for a while to enjoy my summer vacation, but I'm back with a nice, long chapter! Enjoy it and this short author's note, because I need to leave for work, like, now!**

 **Special thanks to Walk The Max Planck and FoxOnPie for helping me edit this!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	35. Starved

_Chapter Thirty Five: Starved_

As the bus took Class 1-A to the site of their Provisional License Exam, Izuku found himself at a bit of a loss.

Not for the first time that morning, he realized something had happened between two of his friends—specifically Katsuki and Momo. The Vice President, who was sitting near the front of the bus, would occasionally glance behind her to check that the rest of their class was behaving. And every time her gaze slid from Izuku to Katsuki, (who was seated beside him) her eyes narrowed with evident annoyance. Meanwhile, Katsuki caught her glare every time and matched it with a wide sneer.

Izuku watched as his feuding classmates had another, silent exchange before he lightly elbowed Katsuki and hissed at him. "What did you do?!"

His best friend snickered, looking far too pleased with himself. "I finally pissed her off."

"Why is that a good thing?!"

"Because Ponytail is goddamn _awesome_ when she's pissed off and I'm getting better at pushing her buttons."

"That doesn't answer my question!"

"That _was_ the answer, dumbass. You just can't appreciate it because you didn't hear her say 'fuck' yesterday."

Izuku groaned and slapped a hand over his face. Dear god, it was already _that_ bad? "Stop corrupting Momo…please?"

"Fat fuckin' chance," Katsuki sniggered, still grinning.

The answer didn't even surprise Izuku and he just prayed Momo would learn to resist corruption as she spent more time with Katsuki. Not just because he admired Momo, but because the thought of her behaving like his explosive best friend was legitimately terrifying.

Katsuki was restricted to explosions. Momo's Quirk could wreak havoc in more ways than Izuku was entirely comfortable with.

Fortunately, Izuku didn't have time to count how many different ways Momo could cause utter annihilation because the bus came to a stop just a few moments later. At the front of the bus, Mr. Aizawa stood up and jerked his head towards the opening doors. "Off the bus. We're at the exam site."

The students exited the bus in silence for once, all of them nervous with anticipation for the upcoming exam. Izuku looked up at the enormous construct awaiting them— Takoba National Stadium. He gulped as it finally sunk in that it was time to see if all his hard work had paid off.

Aizawa stood in front of his students, his posture slouched and his face serious as it always was. "Right, this is it, you kids. If you manage to pass this exam and earn your licenses, you won't just be students anymore. You'll be semi-professionals, trained and legally capable of working with real heroes on the job. Give it your all and get your licenses, you hear?"

"Yes, sir!" the class responded.

Eijirou waved his hands over his head. "Hey, guys! Gather 'round, let's all yell our school motto to get fired up! You ready?!"

The rest of the class clustered together as Eijirou clenched his fist, ready to throw it high. "Plus…"

 **"ULTRA!"**

Class A jumped collectively as an unexpected, unfamiliar voice screamed over them with excitement. They all turned to stare at the culprit— a tall, teenage boy about their age in a high school uniform and a dark hat upon his head with a golden 'S' in the center.

"Ahh!" exclaimed the teenager, grinning widely. "I've always wanted to do that! I just love U.A!"

"It's not good to randomly insert yourself into other people's huddles, Inasa," admonished another teenage male in an identical uniform. Behind him was a blonde girl and another person who was totally covered in fur from head to toe, both of whom wore same outfits.

Inasa froze, still smiling. "Dammit, you're right! Please accept my humblest apologies!"

None of the U.A students were quite prepared for Inasa literally bending over double in a bow until he actually smacked his forehead into the concrete.

Hanta blinked at the teen in utter confusion. "Who the hell is this guy? It's like someone slapped together Tenya and Eijirou and squared the result…"

Aizawa quirked an eyebrow up as he studied Inasa, recognizing him in an instant. _Oh…this kid?_

Izuku was just as startled as the rest of his class, but quickly found that he himself was being watched rather closely. He realized the blonde girl was outright staring at him and swallowed hard—it was like she was trying to peer into his soul.

Her eyes flashed at his evident discomfort and a mischievous smirk crossed over her face. Before Izuku could think of something to say, her tongue flicked out to lick full lips. "You look delicious."

Izuku's face turned an incredible shade of red. _D-delicious?!_

"Hey, no fair, Izuku!" Denki complained and elbowed the other boy jealously. "Don't get all flirty with the other school's girls on your own!"

 _"That's_ what you think is going on here?!" Izuku shrieked.

"Camie, there's no need for you to be interacting with them," the same boy who had chastised Inasa said pointedly. "Come on, we'll be late."

Camie's eyebrows wiggled up and down suggestively at Izuku. "See you later, green bean."

At this point, Izuku was pretty sure he was a shade of crimson outside of the human spectrum. He certainly wished in that moment that he was invisible. Maybe by some miracle he would swap Quirks with Toru.

Katsuki eyed the uniforms of the other students and cocked his head to the side with only mild interest. "These guys are from Shiketsu High."

"Shiketsu?" Eijriou echoed in confusion.

"Yeah," Katsuki grunted, studying Inasa with a measuring look. "U.A's rival school. The saying is U.A is the best in the east, Shiketsu in the west."

The explosive teen met Inasa's gaze as the taller boy righted himself, bleeding from his forehead. Inasa's eyes widened and his grin widened. "Oh! You're that guy from the Sludge Villain incident way back when!"

"Fuck off," Katsuki's lips curled into a snarl, his interest quickly giving way to disdain. Inasa just laughed good-naturedly and walked off with the rest of his class.

"Language," Momo automatically rebutted her wayward classmate before frowning after the tall boy's retreating figure. "I feel like I've seen him before…"

Aizawa grunted in agreement, staring after the Shiketsu students. "His name is Inasa Yoarashi. When the Recommendation Students were taking their exam, he got the highest score out of all those participating. But for some reason, he declined his admission offer."

"Eraser?! Eraser, is that you?!"

A new, female voice had Aizawa tensing. He turned and grimaced at the sight of a smiling, blonde woman in a hero costume. "It's been so long since we've seen each other in person!"

She stopped in front of him and said with a completely straight face, "Let's get married!"

"No," Aizawa replied immediately.

"WAHHHH?!" Mina screeched in excited disbelief as she bounced up and down.

The woman started laughing at Aizawa's response. "No?! Good one!"

Aizawa looked more annoyed than anything. "Your humor is still not very humorous, Joke."

Katsuki rolled his eyes as Izuku started to fanboy beside him. "It's the Smile Hero, Ms. Joke! Her Quirk is called "Roaring Laughter" and by forcing the people around her to laugh, she impairs their cognitive and motor skills! Her villain suppression moves are crazy!"

Still grinning, Joke waved her finger between herself and Aizawa. "If you and I got married, we could start a family filled with unbearable laughter and joy!"

"That doesn't sound joyful to me," Aizawa deadpanned.

She snorted with laughter, apparently finding his responses funny. Tsuyu held up a finger to her chin curiously. "You guys seem to be pretty close…"

Joke tilted her head playfully. "Our offices used to be close to each other! We'd help each other out, coming to each other's rescues and formed a relationship built on mutual love."

"Untrue," Aizawa grunted in irritation. He paused as he caught sight of a group of kids walking up behind Ms. Joke. "Oh, is your class here with you?"

"Oh, yeah!" Joke spun around and waved to her students. "Come and meet the U.A kids, you guys!"

A dark-haired teenage boy grinned excitedly at the sight of them. "Oh! It's really them!"

Beside him, a girl the same age tapped his shoulder. "Those are the kids we saw on TV! Man, you guys are trying for a Provisional License in your first year?! That's crazy!"

The boy walked up to the U.A students and started to shake their hands at random. "I'm Yo Shindo! I'm sorry you guys had to go through such a rough patch at U.A, that must've been hard!"

He approached Izuku after a moment and offered his hand. "Oh, you're Izuku Midoriya, aren't you? You were at the center of the Kamino Ward Incident! You must have a strong spirit to keep going after all that! It's our privilege to take the exam beside you guys today…"

As Izuku was reaching up to shake his hand, Katsuki swatted it aside and sneered at Yo. "Cut the bullshit."

"H-hey, Katsuki!" Izuku protested. "He's just being polite!"

"'Polite' my ass," Katsuki offered Yo a withering glare, though the other teen only smiled disconcertingly. "That look on your face doesn't match your words. Fuck off if you know what's good for you."

Yo's smile widened. "Katsuki Bakugo, isn't it? You've got a pretty strong spirit too."

Katsuki got right in his face, cocking his head to one side and putting on his finest scowl. "Imma blow you sky high if you don't get out of my business."

"By all means, try it," Yo replied calmly, still grinning.

"Enough," Aizawa interrupted them. "Get inside and get changed into your hero costumes."

* * *

Kurogiri watched the voice call pending on the video screen in silence. He was feeling slightly impatient given how his morning was going, but there was nothing to be done about it. He could only hope they wouldn't have a mess to clean up by the end of the day.

The call went through and a muffled voice picked up on the other line, but the screen remained black. "It's not kind to disturb the rest of a senior citizen, you know."

"My apologies," Kurogiri responded. "I felt the need to contact you."

"Tomura really should learn the value of patience. The Noumu I've been working on for him are not yet complete. It will be some time before a prototype is ready for activation."

"That is not what I am calling for."

"…? Then let's hear why you've chosen to wake me, Kurogiri."

Kurogiri explained their situation and his concerns. He had not been privy to every plan All for One cooked up, but this particular one had become particularly difficult to achieve given the League's currently…hazardous situation. Fortunately, his master had thrown him a bone with this plan before his capture and he intended to see it through.

The other line was silent for several minutes after Kurogiri finished speaking. At last, his contact responded.

"I take it neither Tomura or Viper are aware of this."

"Just the barest details," Kurogiri admitted. "All for One didn't see to inform them, so I decided against doing so, as well. This is _your_ area of expertise, after all…"

"And for your sake, I suggest you keep it that way."

His tone carried just the faintest hint of a threat before relaxing again. "But your concerns are valid. What do you need?"

"A safe house," Kurogiri said. "Something inconspicuous and close enough to U.A that it won't draw attention if things progress the way we want. An apartment, ideally. Middle class or lower. Nothing lavish, but well off enough so as to not appear run-down."

"You realize the position this may put me in, yes?"

"I do," the villain bowed despite the screen still being black. "I am not trying to undermine your projects. But with out master currently behind bars, I cannot leave Tomura and his followers to chance if I am captured. Hisashi is still searching for Mugetsu and I cannot call on any of the other Chimeras. You are in the safest place amongst our allies. I must humbly request your aid."

"…Very well. I shall arrange things and find an ideal space today. Even if this particular plan of All for One's doesn't go through, it will serve as a safe house in the future."

"Oh, you do not need to rush," Kurogiri tried to assure him. "We won't know for a few days if things go as planned, anyways."

"I am not one to act at the last minute, Kurogiri. Surely you remember that, even if it has been some time since we met," the voice sounded almost humorous. "Focus on locating Gigantomechia. I can't say I'm particularly fond of the brute, but Tomura will need an effective battering ram in time. Perhaps sooner than later."

Kurogiri tensed. "Baba Yaga?"

"She is not an immediate threat, but she is making her presence known. There has been movement up north. I am keeping tabs on it. I will keep Tomura informed should the worst happen to you."

The misty villain dipped his head one last time. "I am grateful for your assistance."

"It is of little consequence. This falls in line with my own plans, after all. But do me a favor and neglect to inform Tomura of this conversation. And Viper, as well. I have seen quite enough of my fellow Chimeras for a lifetime."

"I understand," Kurogiri said in farewell.

"Hijack."

* * *

The Exam was broken up into two parts, of which the first was currently taking place. It was designed to reduce the number of participants to a hundred—just fifteen percent of the original number. It was a free-for-all round that involved each participant wearing three targets on their body, and to pass, one had to take out at least two people with the six balls they were given at the start within a limited time frame of just fifteen minutes.

The field was massive, practically it's own miniature city for sheer size, and the rules were incredibly severe. It was nothing like the U.A Entrance Exam—there was almost no margin for error, and all hell broke loose as soon as the test was live.

Immediately upon the timer starting, the "U.A Crushing" began. Class A's Quirks were all known from the Sports Festival, and since knowledge was power, the other participants of the test took full advantage of that. Unfortunately for said participants, the U.A students had progressed a lot since that event and they had a whole bag of tricks ready and waiting for their unsuspecting attackers.

Even so, it wasn't a minute into the Exam that Izuku found himself separated from the rest of his class by an earthquake courtesy of Yo—the student he'd met before the test started.

Izuku winced and rubbed his back, eyes darting amidst the rubble for any signs of the enemy. He really needed to join up with the others. Alone like this, he was exposed and at risk of being ganged up on. He spotted a nearby building and after making sure no one was onto him yet, he rushed for the door and made it inside.

He took a breath and moved silently down the dark hall, wary of enemies that may have found their way inside. Mentally, he ran through his options and what he needed to do in order to find his friends. Ideally, he could find a window to survey the outside safely and locate some of them from a floor or two above, then work on a way to meet up with…them…

Izuku stopped in the hallway and went completely silent, cocking his head to the side a bit. He had this odd feeling…this…this alien sensation, like there was something in the back of his mind…

The intrusion (he didn't know what else to call it) was so bizarre, he wasn't even sure how to describe it at first. It was a nagging feeling…almost like a reminder, like a thought in the back of his head whispering for him to recall that it existed. Kind of like when he got stuck on a test question and the answer was on the tip of his tongue, only this time he had no idea what in the actual hell it was because he'd never experienced anything quite like it before.

It seemed to synchronize with his pulse, becoming more noticeable and distracting the more he focused on it. Izuku frowned. Someone's Quirk? A hypnotic type, perhaps? He wasn't feeling dizzy though and he could move just fine…some type of sensory disruption Quirk? A quick test confirmed that he was firing on all cylinders…

…What _was_ it?

He felt like he should've known what this sensation was. It was alien, but familiar at the same time.

Whatever it was, it suddenly decided to go from mildly vexing to an intense _sharpness_ in his head.

Izuku recoiled and dove to the floor on sheer instinct, gasping as a blur of motion flashed through the spot he'd just been occupying. He scrambled to his feet and spun around, finding himself face-to-face with the blonde girl he'd met earlier from Shiketsu High. Camie, wasn't it?

She twisted around to look at him just as quickly and simply stared for a second, utter surprise covering her face. The ball in her hand, which had been aimed at one of his targets, was completely forgotten for a second as the two teenagers took a moment to be flabbergasted by what had just happened.

"How did you—?"

"—I don't know," Izuku blurted out, taking a few dazed steps back so he had at least five meters distance between them.

Camie looked shocked, the playful, teasing behavior from their first meeting all but gone as she tried to figure out just how in the hell Izuku had dodged her attack.

He was just as confused as she was. He hadn't anticipated her coming at him at all, not with his five senses, that is. She'd been so utterly silent and nullified her presence to such an extent that he was perplexed as to how he'd managed to avoid her rush at all.

Her eyes gleamed with a wave of expressions—confusion gave way to interest, then eagerness and excitement, and finally that teasing look returned to her face and voice. "You're just one surprise after another, aren't you?"

"That's one way of putting it, I guess," he admitted, slightly confused by her tone that suggested she was familiar with him when he'd never met her before today. He twisted his head just slightly to make sure he couldn't hear any of her allies sneaking up on him while she played as the distraction. Satisfied—for now, at least—that they were alone, he let his body ignite in a full body flare so he could face her down.

Camie grinned, her posture becoming deceptively lazy as she started to step backwards along the hall on her toes. "Think you can pull that off twice?"

Izuku froze as, quite simply, she seemed to disappear into the shadows. He didn't move at first and quickly realized he couldn't sense her any more than he had before. The nagging sensation in the back of his head returned and he latched onto it desperately.

He was not equipped to deal with a stealth-type Quirk in this situation, not on his own and with next to no knowledge of his enemy, while they more than likely knew a ton of information about his own Quirk. He'd take any advantage he could, even if he didn't understand how it worked.

Another sharp pulse in his head had him leaping up this time, above Camie's second rush, and as soon as he landed, he jumped away from where she'd gone to put some distance between them. He was all-too aware that he was running out of time, but if he turned his back on her, this wasn't going to end well for him. He'd have to defeat her somehow and then go find someone else to pass the exam.

The nagging feeling in his head remained dull for a tense minute that seemed to stretch into hours. He could feel his blood roaring in his veins—she was patient, calculating, and probably studying him to decide the best possible attack angle. It felt like he was being hunted by some nighttime super-predator like a tiger.

Infinitely patient, cunning, and with an instant-kill move to finish the conflict quickly if it connected. A giggle echoed in the hallway and he inwardly grimaced.

She was keeping him tense on purpose by prolonging this, playing mind games with him in order to throw him off and make him too uncomfortable to respond properly when she finally decided to take him out. He debated tossing a fireball down the hall, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. Even that little motion would obscure his vision for a crucial moment, a moment she would no doubt pounce on to defeat him.

His heart was pounding, but he refused to be intimidated. He'd dodged her twice already, even if he couldn't explain how. Izuku fixed his eyes on the darkness, straining his hearing as best he could and took slow, deep breaths through his nose to remain calm. He had to be on his game to catch Camie and stop her from just disappearing again.

He focused on the odd sensation in his head. That was his lifeline here. He'd be screwed if he let it go.

A grand total of five seconds passed like that before he felt the sharp pang in his head, alerting him to another attack.

He didn't jump this time, or dive out of the way. Rotating on his heels, Izuku spun to the left, out of the way of her initial rush as his hand flew into the darkness. His palm hit something and instantly Izuku's fingers closed on it like a steel trap—now he had her by the arm. He heard a surprised gasp as he spun her with him and then slammed the other teen into the wall, pinning her there. He had the presence of mind to reduce his flame output on his hands and body to keep from burning her, but all other thoughts came to a halt as he looked at her.

It was Tsuyu. He had Tsuyu trapped, not Camie. Her wide eyes stared at him in fright. "I-Izuku? What are you doing?"

His reaction was not what she was expecting at all.

Izuku grabbed her other wrist to pin it with the other above her head with one of his hands, then jammed his free arm against her throat to keep her trapped. Glowing emerald eyes glared at her dangerously. "Who are you, really?"

"Izuku, what are you—I'm Tsuyu! Let me go, you're hurting me!"

"You're not Tsuyu," he snapped. "Tsuyu doesn't run the way most people do when she has to move fast—she has to jump like a frog. She's always in a half-crouch when she stands because of her Quirk and she would never feel the need to try and sneak by me. We all talked before the test started about how we needed to work together to pass. Tsuyu isn't the kind of person who would stab her friends in the back."

He paused as he regarded her. "Surely you knew that before you decided to change into her…either you're careless or…you can't transform into anyone in my class but Tsuyu for some reason."

She stiffened beneath his sharp glare and he tightened his grip on her wrists to ensure she wouldn't escape. It seemed he'd guessed correctly. Izuku let his mind do its work as he ran through the possibilities of her Quirk and what he should do next. Keeping her trapped wouldn't do him much good if he couldn't hit her targets—his recent spars with Ochako had taught him that much.

The expression in her eyes had changed completely while he'd been thinking. She looked up at him with a darker, more dangerous glint, like she was planning to mess him up as soon as she got free. It was creepy to see that kind of expression on Tsuyu's face, but Izuku was unfazed, if more alert. "Why come after me like this? You'd be better off staying with other Shiketsu students and working as a team, not ambushing me alone with some half-baked plan. You wasted a lot of time just trying to get at me. Are you even trying to pass?"

She said nothing to that, but her eyes trailed down from his face to stare at what he thought was probably his shoulder. Or maybe she was just looking at the wall behind him in an attempt to ignore Izuku. That was a rather childish thing to do given the—

"Your costume looks good on you," she murmured suddenly. "But I wish it showed more neck."

It was such a bizarre comment that Izuku could only blink at the girl (who still looked—and sounded—like Tsuyu) for a moment in utter bewilderment for several seconds.

His confusion was pulverized into oblivion by a thought that struck him with the force of a runaway freight train, leaving him pale and gaping at her. The teasing and flirty vibe he'd gotten from her before the exam, her ambush and surprise attack style of fighting, the Transformation Quirk, the fact that she could only change into Tsuyu out of all of his classmates, and how she seemed to be familiar with him when he'd never met Camie before today.

Unless, of course, it wasn't Camie he was talking to.

Izuku blanched and tightened his grip on her wrists. His voice became incredibly small, only managing a weak breath. _"Himiko?"_

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner~" she grinned slyly as Tsuyu's features sloughed off of her body in a coating of liquid that pooled at the floor, leaving just Himiko before him in Camie's school uniform. He flinched as she jumped up suddenly and then her ankles were locked behind his back, pulling him flush against her. "And guess what? You found me out, so I'm the prize~! We're all alone in here, Izu~ Whatcha gonna do to me?"

Under normal—okay, relatively normal, this was _Himiko_ , for god's sake—circumstances, Izuku would've blushed until he'd left the human spectrum of the color red, but he'd never been so pale before in his life. Himiko blinked at him as he went whiter than a sheet. "You okay, Izu? You don't look so—"

 _"What the hell are you doing here?!"_ He burst out in a hiss. "How did you even—"

He cut himself off as a horrifying thought crossed his mind. Himiko's Quirk let her transform into a person whose blood she had ingested. She must've gotten Tsuyu's from the training camp's, but then…

"What did you do to that girl?" He whispered hoarsely. "The Shiketsu girl you showed up as?"

Himiko rolled her eyes in boredom. "Ugh, I didn't kill her, don't get all huffy. I just put her out of commission so I could sneak in here to see ya."

"Define ' _out of commission'."_

"Not dead."

 _"Himiko!"_

The snarl that formed on her face looked chillingly feral. "Will you relax? I didn't mess her up that bad. I just knocked her out and drugged her for a bit to keep her asleep so I could be here today. It's not like I left her mortally wounded or something."

Izuku allowed a single breath of relief to escape him—just one. There was an entire atmosphere's worth of tension in his lungs right now. "Where is she?"

"Home. Her parent's are off on some holiday or some shit. Kurogiri is keeping an eye on her until she wakes up, then he'll leave her be."

"How did you even get to her?"

"I broke into her house, duh. I can do a lot more than just stab people with my knives, Izu."

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before sighing. "What did you need to see me so bad for?"

Himiko's eyes flashed, becoming dangerously hazy. "You didn't forget already, _did you?"_

"I haven't forgotten _anything,"_ he snapped. "But this is a Hero License Exam site! Do you have any idea how risky this is for you to be here?! What if you're caught?! I can't help you in prison!"

"I won't be caught," she grinned, showing him her razor-sharp canines. "I've got my backup plans ready in case things go bad, don't you worry, green bean~"

"Now then," she licked at her lips and gazed into his eyes with that predatory gleam he knew all too well. "The plan _was_ for me to give you an address for our… _extracurricular activities,_ Mr. Class President. But now that I'm here…"

Izuku stiffened as her legs crushed him tighter against her body, but he kept her hands pinned above her head to inhibit her movements and his arm against her throat so she couldn't snap at him. "Himiko…" He warned.

"C'mon…Just a little bite?" Her giggle sounded far from sane and Izuku swallowed hard. She was far gone. She was very, very far gone.

"When was the last time you had blood?"

"About two minutes ago when I used up Tsuyu's and then the Camie chick's this morning," she chattered absently, more focused on his face than anything else. He felt one of her feet slowly trail up and down his spine. "I hadn't had any other blood since the last time you helped me at the old hideout. _I was waiting for you,"_ she whispered at the end, blowing lightly at his throat. Gooseflesh covered his skin beneath his costume at the sensation and the way her amber eyes, now a harsher gold from the haziness, gave him the most sinful gleam he'd ever seen in his life.

 _Holy fuck, this was so beyond bad._

She hadn't been properly satiated in nearly a month. Izuku had thought he'd seen Himiko at her worst when he first met her, but this was…this was way worse. She was reckless, aggressive, and her rational thought was obviously eroded badly. Even before he'd started helping her during his captivity, she'd shown an obvious discomfort with certain…intimate behaviors.

That discomfort and rationality had apparently been thrown out the window, punched in the face, and then shot because _this_ Himiko acted like she didn't give a damn about _any_ of it. She was behaving like someone who was seriously intoxicated from alcohol, or something similar.

The hairs on his neck stood on-end at the hungry expression on her face. Swallowing again, he tried to distract her as best he could. "Wh-where's the place you wanted to meet?"

"Oh, yeah, lemme get your number real quick," Himiko said. "My phone's in my pocket. Can I get it out?"

"…I'll do it," Izuku muttered. "Which pocket?"

"Aww, you don't trust me Izu?" She pouted. "I thought you trusted me!"

"You're not thinking straight right now, Himiko."

 _"You_ certainly are," she giggled as her legs squeezed his body uncomfortably tight against her. The innuendo was not lost on him—Izuku was _very_ aware of his hormones getting the better of his teenage body at the moment, but he refused to play her games. She was too dangerous right now and he wasn't even sure how in the hell he was going to let her go without getting slashed and bitten.

 _"Someone's happy to see me,"_ she teased, that predatory grin on her face becoming delighted.

"Which. Pocket?" He ground out through grit teeth.

"Left~"

He fished out her phone carefully, since doing so freed up her head, and quickly put his number into the device before sliding it back into her pocket, all the while being subjected to Himiko's relentless teasing. Once he was done, he gave her a stern look. "Text me when you get back to your hideout and we can set up a time and place to meet up. Just…just hold out a little longer. I'll help you, I promise."

Her eyes looked into his and for a brief moment, Izuku saw the haziness clear up from gold into the familiar amber signifying her better side.

The gold was back in a flash and then she was nose-to-nose with him, gaze heavy and hungry.

He froze at the sensation of her breath caressing his mouth, but she didn't move to bite him. Himiko stared into his eyes for a few tense seconds before a growl tore out of her throat. "If you make me wait much longer, I can't guarantee your safety, Izu. Any more than two days and I'll have to find someone a little less…willing."

In other words, she would attack someone.

"Don't," he pleaded. "I promised you, remember?"

"Do you have _any idea_ what I'm going through for this?!" She snarled suddenly, her attitude shifting to a far more aggressive disposition. "Do you have any idea how this _feels?!_ It's _killing_ me! You said you would help me, so _help me!"_

Izuku bit his lip. She wasn't thinking rationally, and it showed in how willing she was to resort to violence like this. He couldn't leave her like this…she was dangerous and if he made her wait much longer, she was gonna snap, promise or no promise. Her mind was starved of the necessary stimuli to keep her sane and functioning—without it, she might as well have been an alcoholic already wasted out of her mind and still throwing back shots.

Two days? No, he was terrified she might not be able to wait more than two _hours_ at this rate. And if she lost it, someone was going to be violently murdered.

"Today," he said, giving her fury pause. "I'll meet you today after the exam. Give me the address as soon as you're gone. Is it close to U.A?"

She nodded, jaw clenched tightly. "Kurogiri said it's a fifteen minute walk or something like that."

Izuku offered her a weak smile and raised his free hand to the back of her head, daring to pull her a bit closer so he could rest his chin on her crown in an attempt to calm her even a little. "I'll be there today. As soon as I get back to U.A, alright? Three hours tops, I promise."

He felt her body suddenly go slack and then her voice was broken and cracked. "Please…please, Izu, I…you don't know how _hard_ this is…"

"I've got you," he murmured, releasing her hands now that she was calming down. Himiko unwound her legs from his waist and leaned back against the wall, pulling away from him to breathe.

"Kurogiri has my phone's coordinates," she said quietly. "I'll text him to warp me out of here. You can use the targets I had for your test. It's not like I need them."

Izuku nodded and reached up hesitantly to squeeze her hand. "Go rest, okay? I'll be there soon."

She dipped her head exhaustedly. Looking at her face more clearly, Izuku realized she had terribly dark bags under her eyes and her skin was an unhealthy shade of white. His stomach clenched in sympathy. She wasn't exaggerating—she looked abysmal. Her fasting in an attempt to wait for him had affected her even worse than he'd thought.

Himiko fished out her phone and texted something (to Kurogiri, Izuku assumed) before she jerked her thumb further down the hall. "Camie's costume is down there. Go ahead and hit the targets for your exam. I don't care. I'll be alone at the hideout, but Kurogiri said he'll keep an eye on it."

"I'll be there soon."

She looked at him with the amber of her eyes hazing back to gold. "You better."

Then a black warp gate appeared behind her and she was gone in an instant.

* * *

The first stage of the exam passed by quickly after that. Izuku was still trying to process his conversation with Himiko—it felt like it had taken a long time, but in reality it had barely been five minutes. After taking the score from Camie's costume marks, Izuku left the building and met up with the rest of his class before taking down another student from a different school to pass.

His whole class had passed the first part, which was a relief, but Izuku could barely think about the test right now. Seated on a bench while he waited for the test supervisors to get the second part prepared, he hid his face in his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose stressfully.

He had to focus on the exam. He knew that, but…

He couldn't ignore this. Himiko was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown and a murder spree, Camie was drugged in her house and in who-knew-what condition, and he had to find a way to meet Himiko in a few hours.

This was life and death dangerous.

"Deku?"

Izuku looked up to see Katsuki glaring at him with a perplexed expression. "What's got you so…well, fucked? You're making all the scrubs emotionally unstable."

He glanced around, spotting a group of his classmates watching them with concern. Izuku offered them a weak smile before turning back to Katsuki. He was quiet for another moment before shaking his head. "I need your help."

Katsuki's frown deepened, but he jerked his head towards the door to the hallway. Izuku followed him outside until they were alone and in no danger of being interrupted.

The explosive teenager stopped and faced him. "What's up?"

Once Izuku started, he couldn't stop and basically blurted the whole mess out to Katsuki, whose jaw dropped in utter shock, which twisted into fury when his friend told him about meeting Himiko after the exam.

 _"Are you fucking high?!"_

"If I leave her like that, she's gonna kill someone!" Izuku protested, throwing one of his hands up helplessly. "That's on my hands if I just try to ignore it! You didn't see her, she's barely able to control herself!"

Katsuki snarled viciously. "If she told you where she's gonna be, then tell the Pros and they'll catch her before she can kill someone! Why the fuck would you go to them like that?! What if your lunatic dad is waiting to just kidnap you?!"

"What if he's not? What if Himiko really is alone there? Besides, she said that Kurogiri is watching the place! They'll be prepared to avoid a sneak attack from the heroes and get away!"

"As opposed to you just waltzing alone into the fucking lion's den?! I can live with the blonde vampire fucking off to whatever level of hell she crawled out of, but I am _not_ letting you get captured again, Izuku!"

The green-haired teen hesitated before biting his lip for several seconds. Katsuki's shoulders were heaving as he breathed heavily in an attempt to keep his temper under control. This was not a fucking joke. So help him if Izuku decided to go through with this, he'd tie the selfless little bastard to his fucking back and set every hero in the city on that damned hideout, wherever the fuck it was.

Izuku finally looked back at him with a desperate plea. "Then come with me."

"What?"

"Please! Just—you can come and help me with Himiko," he begged. "I'll explain to her that you're just there for my safety like how Kurogiri is keeping an eye out on her…I can help her settle down, no one dies, and nobody will get kidnapped…"

Katsuki clenched his jaw tightly. "Why are you so hung up on this bitch?"

"She needs help," Izuku said stubbornly. "I can help her, Katsuki! I know I can! And…and who knows, maybe if we help her enough, she can help us take down the League!"

"You want to try and turn the psycho vampire into a double agent, are you even hearing yourself?" Katsuki scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I want to help her before any of that stuff. I can help her get into a hospital, eventually. If I can do this, she won't hurt anyone and we won't have to worry about her transforming into someone we know and shanking us when our backs are turned!"

"What if she's just doing this so the League can capture you later?"

"What if she's not? What if she's really looking for help and I turn her away?"

Katsuki realized as soon as the words left Izuku's mouth that his friend would never just leave Himiko to whatever fate awaited her. He would find some way to reach her and keep her from committing crimes unless he was convinced she really was just taking advantage of his help. It wouldn't matter if he got into trouble because he was so determined to help Himiko.

It wasn't in Izuku's nature to abandon someone he wanted to protect in a dire situation. Katsuki knew that better than anyone.

 _"Once,"_ Katsuki hissed, holding up a tense finger to express how totally pissed off he was with his friend right now. "I'll help you make blondie chill the fuck out _just this once,_ but if I'm not convinced, Deku, I'll set _every hero under the sun_ after her. And if things get ugly, I will blow her up so bad they'll _never_ find all the pieces."

"I know," Izuku murmured quietly, looking down at the ground. "I wouldn't ask if I didn't think it wasn't worth the risk…but I think she can really be helped, Katsuki. I want to save her."

"I've noticed," the explosive teen muttered with a dry tone. He shook his head, clearing the fury from his brain. God, he was so ready to beat the fuck out of some poor-ass enemy. He wished he'd been able to beat down that meat grinder freak from Shiketsu some more.

"Fine, I'll go to your room after we get back to U.A," Katsuki said at last. "We tell Aizawa we're going to get lunch and I tell the others to fuck off for a bit. We make your crazy bitch chill out and get the fuck out of there safely, or I'm gonna kill her and her crazy fuckin' friends."

Izuku nodded and looked back up at his friend. His lips twitched up in a nervous smile. "This is probably a bad idea."

"No, really?" Katsuki retorted sarcastically. The blonde teen rolled his eyes. "Let's just get through this exam. And if we're still alive and not expelled by the end of the day, I'm going to take up my dad on that offer he made to drink at my house."

"Can I join you?"

"You get to clean up all the vomit."

"That's fair."

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my god, you guys have no idea how many levels of hell I've been put through in the last two and a half months. If I included everything that's happened in this author's note, the chapter would probably be double the size. Short version is, my dog had to have surgery and constant attention for a month and a half, I've been working constantly when I wasn't keeping an eye on him, my grandmother is now in a senior home and we're ripping her house apart because that building is basically unlivable at this point, I almost got heat stroke multiple times, one of my animals escaped and was thankfully safely recaptured, and I shelled out $1000 on my care in the last four days because it decided that air conditioning in south Texas is overrated. Oh, and my home's air conditioning system agreed with it and I am literally sitting in cool air for the first time in three days.** **I am so ungodly tired right now I'm ready to go upstairs to my bed and slip into something more comfortable, like a coma.** **It's at the point where this chapter hasn't even been beta'd, I just want to get it out here and I can edit it tomorrow. But I'm tired and desperate to just get the chapter out, so here you go.**

 **Things have gotten a little darker and more mature in some ways in this chapter, but it'll never reach the M-Rated stuff unless that's something you all are interested in. I'll leave that up to y'all. I'm gonna go upstairs now, pass out, and wait for the criticism regarding this unbeta'd chapter. Hopefully I can get back on track after all this madness and I'll clean up the chapter tomorrow since I have the day off, thank god.**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	36. Strike Team

_Chapter Thirty Six: Strike Team_

Shoto watched Izuku and Katsuki leave the main rest area curiously, but he didn't pry. Although he knew enough about the two of them to feel some concern for whatever was going on, he was also aware they had a very close friendship and it was probably best that he didn't interrupt them. Maybe he'd ask Izuku about it later to see if he could help in some way.

Asking Katsuki would just result in cursing Shoto was becoming more or less totally desensitized to.

As it was, he glanced at Ochako and Tenya, who had also watched their two classmates walk off. He tilted his head after them. "Do you have any idea what that's about?"

"No," Ochako said with a frown. "Deku was fine before the exam started, but he seemed really shaken when we ran into him during the second half of it."

Shoto nodded slightly. "Maybe Katsuki can handle it for now. We should ask him about it later, though."

"Agreed. Hopefully, this won't disturb his focus on the exam," Tenya stated.

"Mmm," Shoto hummed, turning to face the rest of their class only to pause halfway as he spotted the Shiketsu students coming towards them. His eyes locked onto the tall first year they'd run into at the exam entrance—Inasa Yoarashi, as he recalled.

The Shiketsu students approaching didn't put him off.

What did was Inasa's sudden glare in his direction.

The intensity of the look startled Shoto, but not so much that it really disturbed him. Not much fazed Shoto after everything he'd been through as a child. It surprised him more than anything else.

He wound up getting into a sort of passive staring contest with Inasa as the leader of the Shiketsu class—the guy covered in fur—talked to the U.A students about one of their classmates causing trouble for them during the exam. It had something to do with Katsuki, but Shoto wasn't really paying attention at the moment. He was trying to figure out what he'd done to warrant such a tense glare from Inasa. He was pretty sure this was the first time they'd met.

"Shoto? Hey, you there?"

He was jerked out of his thoughts by Eijirou gently bumping his shoulder. "Yes?"

The Shiketsu class leader glanced from Shoto to Inasa, who had stopped glaring for the most part, before sighing. "Oh great…did you two listen to a word I said?"

"Sorry," Shoto apologized earnestly. "I was distracted."

"Big surprise," Inasa muttered.

"Inasa, stop it."

Shoto frowned at the taller boy. "I'm sorry, did I do something to you?"

For some reason, that only seemed to irritate Inasa even more. "You don't even remember the U.A entrance exam, do you? Wow. You really are just like Endeavor."

That had Shoto's spine going ramrod straight. His eyes narrowed. "What was that?"

"Inasa," the Shiketsu leader insisted with an edge in his tone.

Inasa let his shoulders relax, but nothing more. "Sorry, Mr. Endeavor's son, but I hate both of you. Maybe you've changed a bit since last time, but you've still got those damn eyes of his. I refuse to think of either of you as heroes."

With that, Inasa turned and walked away, leaving his classmates and the U.A students in a somewhat deflated state. The Shiketsu leader sighed in exasperation. "It's one hothead after another today…"

Shoto wasn't sure if he was more offended or disturbed by Inasa's accusations. He had Endeavor's eyes? What did that even mean? And what was Inasa on about, talking about the U.A entrance exams?

He shook his head after a few moments, still frowning. It couldn't have been _that_ significant if he couldn't even remember it…right?

* * *

The island prison of Tartarus was the most heavily guarded place in Japan, and arguably the entire world. Divided by seven levels in a vast underground construct, every single prisoner was completely restrained and had no contact with the outside world. They were all heavily monitored—everything from their brain waves and vital signs was measured constantly for anomalies, and the moment any of them so much as thought of activating their Quirks, the machine gun turrets in their cells would be aiming at them. And that was just the first line of defense against the prisoners. Tartarus had so many layers of security that escape was literally impossible. It had been named after the Greek God of Hell for a reason, after all.

It had been constructed for just one purpose: to imprison the most evil and twisted criminals in history for the rest of their miserable lives.

All Might, donning one of his old hero costumes, entered a small room with a single chair facing a glass wall. Silently, he took a seat and peered through the glass.

All for One faced him from the other side, heavily restrained in a chair such that even slight movements were immensely difficult. At his side was an IV tube and a breathing apparatus connected to a mask on his face. Above him, several guns were being trained on him.

His faceless head cocked to one side just slightly. "What's with that pitiful costume of yours, All Might? Surely you aren't still working as a hero anymore, right?"

"Of course not," All Might retorted dryly.

"Where's Gran Torino? Or did you come here of your own volition?" All for One prompted. "It's about time for the second semester to start, isn't it? Or has it started already? I figured you'd be completely absorbed in the education of your students…and yet you've come here. Why?"

"To settle things with you."

The Symbol of Evil chuckled. "To settle things, you say…In other words, you've come in the hope that perhaps I'll answer your questions, no?"

Toshinori said nothing for a moment, so the villain pressed on a little more quietly. "Izuku survived, didn't he?"

"No thanks to you."

"That's fair—it _was_ a miscalculation on my part. I didn't anticipate Hisashi doing such a thing to him, but he's always been one to get easily carried away…The damage wasn't permanent, was it?"

"He'll be fine," Toshinori muttered. "And he'll remain far out of your clutches, especially since you're never getting out of here."

"Let's assume that to be the case," the man wheezed out a chuckle. "I think I'm allowed to have some concern over my grandchild's fate, am I not?"

All Might's jaw clenched. "Blood tests have shown that you're no more related to Izuku or Hisashi than any other person. From a genetic standpoint, you aren't his grandfather."

"True enough. Hisashi is a Chimera, after all. The genetic code within him courtesy of me is rather small, as it is within all of my Chimeras, but he's legally my adopted child. So genetically, no, we aren't closely related, but Izuku is still my legal grandchild."

"Did you claim all of your Chimera as your adopted children?"

"Heavens, no," All for One dismissed. "It'd be too easy for you to trace them if that were the case. Hisashi was the exception because I sent him to U.A to investigate you and the hero education system. He needed a concrete legal background I could supervise personally and well…he was always the most free-spirited of my Chimera, especially when he was younger. I felt the need to keep him closer to me than the others."

Toshinori snorted. "You're being awfully chatty today, aren't you? The guards said you've barely spoken a word until now."

"They aren't of any interest to me. You are."

"Because you hate me?"

"Oh please, nothing so petty. You interest me because you're close to Izuku."

"Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to tell you anything about his personal life save for the fact that he survived the Kamino Incident, and I wouldn't tell you more even if I were allowed to," All Might informed him.

All for One's head fell forward slightly. "Is that so? What a shame…and here I was inclined to share information with you in exchange for getting to know Izuku a little better…"

"Nice try. I'm not buying that for a second," Toshinori retorted. "My turn to ask the questions. Where's Tomura?"

"I don't know. He's already carried on without me."

"Then what are you after? You show all of this interest in Izuku, but you must know that he and Tomura can't stand one another," All Might frowned deeply. "Surely you don't think he'll actually joint the League of Villains?"

All for One was silent for a moment. "Contrary to popular belief, my goals aren't quite as simple and short-sighted as you think. I have multiple reasons for having Izuku interact with the League."

"What are they?"

"For that, you must give me some information in exchange. Sharing is caring."

Even with the mocking way he said it, Toshinori couldn't repress a grimace. "For both our sakes, never repeat that last sentence. It's disturbing coming from you."

All for One laughed uproariously, wheezing and gasping for breath. "Ah…this is refreshing! A real conversation! Well then, how about this? You tell me something simple that I want to know and in return, I'll give you a hint regarding one of my goals with Izuku."

"Nope, not happening. I'm not playing this game of give and take with you, especially concerning Izuku," All Might growled.

A guard's voice on an overhead speaker interrupted them. _"Three more minutes, All Might."_

All for One's laughter faded and his tone became more serious. "You will not even consider the possibility for information?"

"I don't trust you. For all I know, you could be setting a trap or just outright lying. It wouldn't be the first time you've done that."

"That is true. Our interactions in the past have been less than courteous. Even now…" The villain quieted for a second before sighing. "Very well. I'll tell you something first. What I ask in return is something simple that I could live without. You can choose to respond if you wish it, but I would enjoy even that little bit of knowledge."

All Might's brow furrowed. "You're going to just tell me something for free? That's unlike you."

"In all fairness, you don't know much about me, Yagi," All for One replied stiffly. "Not really."

"Well, spill it, then. Surprise me."

"I want you to consider allowing Izuku to interact with Himiko Toga."

All Might paused. "Why? He's told me more or less what happened between him and Himiko during his captivity, but why would that interest you? I suspected you might have encouraged their interaction as a way to keep him tied to the League. Is that what this is for?"

"It is not. This is…how should I put this? Mutually beneficial for both sides. Somehow, he's managed to work with that exceptionally dangerous side of hers. He's able to bring her to reason."

"I'm still not hearing a good reason as to why I should let them interact. Himiko might suffer from a mental condition, but it's best to have it treated in a hospital," All Might pointed out. "Moreover, I find it hard to believe Tomura and the rest of the League wouldn't just seize the opportunity to kidnap him again."

"They won't. Kurogiri has my orders. He'll find a way to isolate them so Tomura cannot take Izuku."

"Am I supposed to trust that?" Toshinori demanded, becoming more and more suspicious by All for One's insistence on the matter. "Why do you even care about this so much? I've wondered if you were somehow responsible for Himiko's parents being killed and her kidnapping, but up until now, she's been little more than a random villain you caught in your net. Why the sudden interest?"

"My interest is far from sudden, it was simply subdued because I thought she was too unstable to act as anything more than a convenient tool. She's more valuable to me than you know and more dangerous than you could anticipate. Especially right now."

Toshinori's eyes narrowed. What were the odds that the Symbol of Evil was just overstating things in order to make him let down his guard? He could think of plenty of reasons, and yet All for One was giving this information to him freely without asking for anything in return…

He didn't trust this man at all, but he'd play this game, if for no other reason than to possibly gain information on Himiko and All for One's intentions with Izuku.

Cautiously, he spoke again. "Dangerous how?"

"As I recall, Izuku and Himiko made a deal during his captivity that he would help her remain sane in exchange for her no longer attacking people," All for One explained. "Himiko might be unstable, but she keeps her promises, if nothing else. That's when she's sane, though. If as much time as passed as I believe, she likely hasn't had any blood for nearly a month. She's probably on the edge of a killing spree and I'd guess Kurogiri has already taken steps to isolate her from the rest of the League to ensure their safety."

"You sure are worried about a single teenage girl, aren't you?"

"That teenage girl we're speaking of is capable of killing more people than almost anyone else in the League's current roster," All for One warned. "Do not underestimate her."

All Might considered the warning seriously. All for One was an expert actor, but if they had actually gone to the trouble of keeping Himiko separate from the other villains as a way to ensure _their_ safety…What didn't they know about her?

He paused at that thought. "Her kidnapping. So you do know something about it? Was she trained to kill during that time?"

"Yes."

"To what extent?"

"Let me put it this way; in her semi-insane state, most of her kills are done lazily because she doesn't feel the need to exert herself against what her mind perceives as easy prey. The few times she's killed someone in earnest, the bodies either haven't been found or have been attributed to someone else.

"Now she's on the edge of a full-on rampage, courtesy of Izuku trying to persuade her not to kill anyone. If you don't want to wake up to see her kill count increased by the dozen and your protege guilt-ridden, I suggest you find a way for Izuku to calm her down before Kurogiri is unable to contain her any longer."

All Might glared at him. "Why tell me this? Wouldn't it suit you better if she was spreading terror?"

"Doing so would garner attention to her, attention from certain people I don't want her or Tomura to interact with yet. That's why I don't want her to go on a killing spree. You don't want her to do so because of the many lives that would be lost as a result, and the fact that Izuku would certainly blame himself for their deaths."

"And you what, just suddenly felt compelled to do the right thing?" Toshinori suggested scornfully.

"Certainly not for you or society as a whole, no. But I admit that I would very much like to see her and Izuku interact more, if for no other reason than to satiate my own curiosity. Of course, you can do what you want with this information. Choose to use it or to leave it and allow Himiko to kill dozens of people. It would be a shame if she were to die, but I could accept that disappointment in time."

"That sounds more like you," Toshinori muttered under his breath. "So? What's this information you wanted in exchange?"

"Ah…yes. About that…"

* * *

The second stage of the Provisional License Exam was completely different from the first.

It was a rescue scenario designed to resemble the Kamino Ward Incident—a vast, destroyed area with a number of Professional Rescuees scattered around to grade the apprentice heroes on their performance. They all posed as civilians of all ages, with various injuries or conditions the heroes had to deal with accordingly as the situation developed. The test would only conclude once every "civilian" was successfully evacuated to the emergency first-aid station.

Class 1-A didn't have a lot of rescue experience, so starting off had been a bit rough, but they caught on quickly enough and got into the flow of things.

"Hanta, we need some of your tape over here!" Momo called to the other teen as she knelt beside a "civilian" they'd just pulled from the rubble. "We've got a child with a broken leg! He needs a temporary cast and someone to carry him to the station! Toru, can you get him there?"

"Yes, I'll get him!"

"Guys, I can hear more people beneath the rubble here!" Mezo called with one of his tentacles, another one halfway down a hole. "Rikido, I could use your help clearing this debris out!"

"I'll be right over!"

Izuku checked out another "civilian" they'd found wandering in confusion amidst the debris and panicking. It was a quick scan to determine if the individual had any severe injuries and their mental state, but they couldn't afford to spend too much time on every person with the number of trapped people. As long as they could get them all to the emergency first-aid station as quickly and safely as possible, they'd do fine on this exam.

This particular civilian wasn't badly hurt save for a few scrapes. He set his hand on the woman's shoulder and offered a nervous smile. "You'll be alright. You aren't hurt much, so go with Toru over there and she'll take you and that little boy to the first-aid station."

"Th-thank you!" The woman sobbed, following Izuku's directions to Toru and going with her to the first-aid station. Sheesh, these Professional Rescuees were really good actors.

Izuku jogged over to Katsuki, who was with Kyoka and Tsuyu near a big concrete wall. Kyoka had heard someone inside the destroyed building, but they'd yet to find a way inside.

"Still nothing?" He asked.

Katsuki looked back at him. "Nothing yet."

"There's airflow, but I can't pinpoint the source," Kyoka grimaced. "How did they even get in there?"

"Might be an underground entrance or something," Izuku said, chewing on his lip. "Do you think you can crack it open with a small explosion?"

"I'd rather not," Katsuki muttered as he looked up at the building. "This thing's not stable at all. The other side is half caved-in. If I rupture it too much, it might just collapse on the guy inside."

"Guys!" Tsuyu called, peering from the top of the destroyed roof. "There's an opening here on the ceiling! The civilian inside isn't hurt, but he's too deep for me to reach! Could you get Fumikage to help me get him?"

"I'll send him over!" Izuku called back, bumping Katsuki's shoulder. "C'mon, let's send Fumikage over and then—"

The sound of a massive explosion had everyone whipping towards the source of the blast. As the debris from the destroyed flank of the stadium settled, the young heroes in-training stiffened.

A huge number of "villains" had invaded the evacuation site. In this scenario, these guys would have been the criminals who committed the act of terrorism and were back for more.

At their head was a massive figure of black and white, clawed hands and the deep eyes surveying the evacuation site dangerously. The tall, dorsal fin on his spine was a dead giveaway to his identity.

"Th-that's Gang Orca!" Gasped Denki. "They sent in the Rank Ten hero for this?!"

Momo's gaze flew from the villains to her fellow class president, knowing immediately that he might have a solution figured out. Just as she'd anticipated, Izuku's eyes were locked onto Orca in that sharp, analyzing way she knew meant he was working on a plan to deal with their new enemies.

"Izuku!" She called, getting his attention. "I'll handle the evacuation efforts here with the others! Can you get a team together to deal with the villains until the rescue is finished?"

He nodded and considered their options. Izuku knew Gang Orca's Quirk well—just as Tsuyu was similar to a frog, Orca, true to his name, was biologically similar to a Killer Whale. His mind reached for the knowledge he had on the powerful hero and he rifled through it; strengths, weaknesses, environmental factors…The abilities his friends had and what he could do with them in order to counteract this threat in the best way possible…

Orca's greatest weapon against them was his powerful sonic blasts, which doubled as a form of echolocation. It gave him a way to attack them at range and track enemies attempting to sneak up on him, so they'd need to disable that first. He had several ideas on how to do that, but only one or two that might be enough to completely immobilize the Pro. Getting close to him was going to be tricky because of his incredible physical might, even if they did stop his sonic blasts. He couldn't hope to overpower Orca with just Overdrive. No, they'd have to pin him down somehow…

"Katsuki, Kyoka, Shoto, myself, and…" Izuku paused as he thought about his final pick. They needed a fifth person to clinch this plan of his, someone who could give them a bit of extra mobility…ah.

"Ochako," he decided, causing her to blink at him in surprise. "You four are with me! We'll deal with Orca while Momo and the others take care of the civilians here!"

Izuku bolted towards the incoming villains with Katsuki and Shoto quickly falling into step beside him. Kyoka and Ochako followed swiftly, the former calling after their class president. "Izuku, what's the plan!? There's just five of us to go up against all of those villains!"

"It'll be fine!" He called back. "Shoto and I will use our Quirks to isolate Gang Orca from those minor villains and keep them from reaching the evacuation site! Once we've got him on his own, Katsuki, Shoto, and I need to attack him at a distance to keep his attention!"

"Then what are Ochako and I here for?!" Kyoka demanded.

"You two are the key to this plan!" Izuku replied. "Listen carefully! We'll only get one chance to pull this off!"

* * *

Miss Joke pursed her lips as she watched the five man team from U.A race towards Gang Orca and his cronies. "Your students are too sure of themselves to send such a small group after someone as powerful as Orca, aren't they? They should at least have brought double that number. Even if their goal is simply to stall for time, they'll add to the casualty count like this…"

"It'd be easy to think that at first glance," Aizawa agreed. "The rescue effort was always going to be the most difficult for my class since they don't have much experience with it. We've focused mostly on combat in the short time they've been at U.A. But I think they made the right decision here—with more victims than villains, the strike team needs to be effective and compact so the larger rescue team can focus on saving the civilians. 1A's class president and vice president are both natural leaders and have excellent judgement when they get their acts together. Letting Momo take the reins on the rescue effort was the right choice since Izuku undoubtedly needs to lead their makeshift combat team."

"Why is that?" She queried.

Aizawa stared pointedly at the green figure leading the strike team. "Izuku's got a habit of storing ridiculous amounts of information about heroes in his head. Against someone as well-known as Gang Orca, he's probably aware of his every ability and already has several plans figured out to counter him. He's a smart kid in his element. I'm not worried about them biting off more than they can chew, I'm just curious as to what he's got planned to deal with someone like Orca, and how the four he's brought along will play their parts."

Joke grinned at him teasingly. "You've really fallen for this class, haven't you?"

"No," he denied bluntly. "They're worth my time, that's all."

* * *

Gang Orca paused in his advance as an explosion blasted the front of his minions' line. The faux-villains yelped and shouted when a wall of ice in a V-shape closed their boss off, freezing several of them in place. Another wave of ice made a temporary barrier between the minions and the main evacuation site.

Orca looked at the origin point of the ice walls and spotted the small U.A strike team—Shoto, currently emanating flames from his left side to warm himself up and provide Izuku with fire to transmute, and Katsuki, who was currently standing at the front of the group.

Before he could so much as take a step towards them, the assault began.

Katsuki rushed Orca in a wide circle with his explosions to accelerate his speed and immediately unleashed a series of large, concussive blasts on the run. The Pro lifted an arm against the attack, which was more annoying than anything at their current range. He prepared a sonic blast to counterattack, only to be forced to leap back in order to avoid a surge of emerald fire.

Izuku and Shoto had joined the fray, the former now juiced with emerald fire courtesy of his dual-element classmate. Shoto launched a stream of ice after Orca as soon as Izuku's attack ended, and once the Pro dodged that, Katsuki was blasting him from behind and forcing him to avoid yet another assault. The triple-threat team launched attack after attack at him, keeping Orca on his toes and providing minimal opportunity for counter play.

It was a good plan, the Pro thought to himself. He had to aim his sonic blasts at a target for them to really be effective, so by splitting up and attacking him from different angles over and over again, it reduced the potency of his echolocation-based moves. The most irritating by far was Katsuki's near-constant barrage of explosions. They didn't do a lot of damage given their small size and distance from Orca, but the endless popping messed with his echolocation and it was starting to give him a headache.

Annoyed, he attempting to focus on Katsuki's location, only for Shoto to launch a burst of ice at him as soon as he did. Orca leapt away from the ice and found himself faced with emerald flames next, which he also dodged. As soon as he spun towards the source to try and launch a sonic blast in retaliation, Katsuki regained his attention with an exceptionally large blast that sent waves of pain through his head.

They weren't even really hurting him, just compromising his ability to counterattack and making him more irritated than anything else. It didn't help that he was weighed down by the restraints he had to wear—the same ones the teachers at U.A had worn during the Practical Exam, designed to even the odds between Pros and students by making the Pros heavier.

But Orca was Rank Ten for a reason. Before long, he spotted the weak link and struck at it.

Of the three teenagers barraging him, Shoto was the least mobile by far. Whilst Izuku and Katsuki threw attacks at him on the run, Shoto stopped most of the time before attacking and didn't move nearly as quickly even on his ice streams.

As soon as Orca dodged another one of Katsuki's explosions, he anticipated the ice blast coming his way and simply unleashed a sonic pulse straight through it. The wave of sound crashed into Shoto and sent him staggering, giving Orca an opportunity to jump on.

Or at least, he would have if the ground didn't start quaking beneath his feet in the same moment a tornado appeared around him. Having joined the fray near the entrance to the ice walls that contained Orca, Yo stood up a little shakily after triggering such a powerful earthquake. "You newbies need more than three people to suppress him! Are you even thinking?"

The Pro's eyes snapped up to see Inasa floating above him, guiding winds in a violent, but tight cyclone to keep Orca trapped. Inasa grinned. "Mind if I join in?!"

The grin faded as he caught sight of Shoto. "Oh great, _you're_ here."

"Who the fuck do you asshats think you are, coming uninvited?!" Katsuki roared from somewhere behind Orca—the Pro could see him amidst the flying debris, but he could still hear just fine. "Deku, what now?! They're screwing things up!"

"Let me worry about that! You just stick to the plan!" Izuku shouted back.

 _Ah, so they did have a strategy to counter me,_ Orca thought, watching curiously. _And now their allies have unexpectedly interrupted things. Will they still make it work, or is this plan of theirs too delicate to adapt to change?_

Izuku was thinking the same thing, and he quickly made changes to the current plan. "Yo, trigger weak quakes at him whenever he lands! Don't stay in one place or he'll catch you! Inasa, help blow him away if he tries to attack, but watch out for sonic blasts!"

Orca spotted Izuku through the whirl of debris as the teenager darted around his right flank in a circle, green fire streaming behind him. _So you're the mastermind, are you? I should take you first…_

The Pro, however, was quickly subjected to an even more furious barrage as Katsuki's latest batch of explosions peppered his back, followed by a weak quake from Yo, (which was just enough to keep his feet unsteady) and then a stream of fire from Shoto—that was then thrown off-course by Inasa's wind.

"What are you doing?!" Inasa snapped at the dual-element wielder. "Heat makes wind unstable! I can't attack if you do that!"

"That's my line!" Shoto retorted. "Things were fine before you showed up! If anything, you're throwing off _my_ attacks!"

Orca observed the argument, unimpressed, as he dodged another assault wave from the ones who were still doing their jobs properly. _Are the two of them_ ** _really_** _letting their personal differences get between them in a battle? It's hard to believe they're from the top two hero schools with such sloppy attitudes._

"Inasa, just focus on keeping Orca away from us!" Izuku called up. "Don't engage!"

"I'm not working with a guy like him!" Inasa snapped back, bringing his arm back to prepare another blast of wind. "He's no different than Endeavor!"

Shoto's eyes narrowed angrily as he launched another stream of flame at Orca, only for it to crash into Inasa's wind again—and misfire an infernal conflagration straight at Yo, who was recovering from the aftershocks of his latest earthquake. Unable to dodge, he could only watch the blaze coming his way.

An emerald blur darted in front of Yo, hands held forward to intercept the inferno with his own green flames. A jet-like sound was produced as the flames were transmuted almost instantly, giving Izuku total control of the rogue fire.

Shoto and Inasa froze as Izuku snapped a furious glare onto them. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing!?"

Neither of them had a chance to respond as Orca seized the opportunity to blast a sonic pulse at Inasa while charging Shoto and delivering a vicious, backhanded blow that sent the teen flying into an ice wall behind him. The two attacks hit their marks and stunned the pair of teenagers, taking them out of commission.

The sound of explosions flying up in the air behind him had Orca half-turning to intercept a possible attack from Katsuki, but he stopped dead at a whirlwind of emerald fire surrounding him. A figure darted into the green twister, a massive surge of flame and plasma arcing off his right fist as he struck at Orca.

Unfazed, the Pro caught the attack with one of his large, clawed hands. The heat and plasma hurt, yes, but he could take it long enough to overpower the teenager. Orca's eyes narrowed at Izuku. "Trying to hurry and settle things now that your plan has fallen apart? That kind of inflexibility will get you…"

Orca paused for a moment as he studied Izuku's face. He didn't look panicked or angry like he'd expected.

He was smiling.

A weight suddenly dropped onto his shoulders and as Orca prepared a sonic blast to counterattack, a pair of hands grasped his head. "Heartbeat Fuzz!"

The sonic dissonance concentrated at his head had Orca screeching at the top of his lungs, his body going rigid. Kyoka locked her ankles together under his throat to keep herself in place, as both of them were paralyzed by the horrific waves of sound surging through them. Even with that, the only reason she didn't totally fall off was because she was half-falling against the fin on Orca's head.

It felt like her body was turning to jelly with every second she was exposed to the unbelievably strong pulses of noise, but Kyoka had him—she had Orca stunned. She couldn't overpower him by any means, but she had him immobilized if only for a few moments. She screamed over the paralyzing waves. _"HURRY!"_

"Just hold him, Kyoka!" Izuku shouted, having been released from Orca's grasp. He let the curtain of emerald flames sputter out as he yelled and lunged at the Pro. "Ochako, do it now! Go, go, go!"

Orca's body was suddenly floating up a few inches, and then he was being forced to his hands and knees by two sets of hands, unable to resist as he was. Thick layers of ice crawled up his arms, legs, and back, careful to avoid freezing Kyoka. It didn't cause him much pain, resistant to the cold as he was, but it was thick and strong enough to prevent him from breaking free immediately.

Kyoka was suddenly dragged from his shoulders and the sonic pulses ceased, freeing Orca of the paralysis, but leaving him unable to escape the cocoon of ice.

From the instant Kyoka had been dropped onto him to the moment she was pulled off, just fifteen seconds had passed.

Kyoka dropped to the ground with Izuku's help and threw up a few feet away from the trapped Pro. Izuku could only pull her short hair back for her and let the girl get the sickness out of her system while Katsuki took the reigns for a moment.

He'd dragged Shoto over since the teen was still stunned from Orca's attack so he could do his part of the plan. Now Katsuki let Shoto go, scoffing as the boy collapsed. "You nearly fucked us over, icy-hot."

"I know," Shoto managed, wincing in pain from Orca's blow. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you better be sorry," Katsuki snapped, but left it at that in favor of aiming his grenade gauntlet at the back of Orca's head. The Pro was only able to really focus sound blasts from the front of his skull, which Izuku had warned them of. Now that he was immobilized, they could avoid any serious sonic waves as long as they stayed behind Orca's line of fire.

"Deku, should I release him from the zero gravity?" Ochako asked without taking her eyes off the Pro.

"Yeah, you can," Izuku replied, glancing away from Kyoka over his shoulder. "He's trapped, so your Quirk shouldn't affect him much anymore. Where's Yo and Inasa?"

"Yo's fine," she told him, gesturing to the older teen that was now resting behind them. "Inasa's still down, but he's not in Orca's line of fire. I'll bring him over here."

"Yeah, better not risk any of the weaker villains finding him," he agreed, watching her run towards Inasa's downed form. Izuku looked back to Kyoka, who was done retching and trying to regain her breath. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine," she muttered. "I'm dizzy and I feel like shit, but I'm good."

Izuku carefully helped her sit up. "Just sit still for a bit and recover. The test should be over soon…"

A loud, long siren confirmed his guess, followed by the announcer's voice. "If I could have your attention please. All members of the H.U.C have been rescued from the crisis zone, so I am now bringing the Provisional License Examination to a close."

The teenagers—sans Katsuki—all breathed sighs of relief. Shoto managed to stagger to his feet and lay his left hand against Orca's frozen prison. "Here, I'll melt the ice."

Orca waited in silence for the ice to melt and rose to his feet soon after, shaking the remaining fragments off his body. He looked at the group of young heroes with curious eyes, watching as Izuku, Katsuki, and Ochako helped their injured allies up to carry them to the medical office.

"Boss?" Orca paused and turned to spot his sidekicks, the "villains", approach him. Some looked like they'd taken a bit of a battering, probably from fighting some of the other students after Shoto had walled them off with his ice. "Sorry we couldn't help much. We got jumped by a group of them as soon as we found a way around the ice wall."

"It's fine," Orca dismissed, shaking his head for a moment to chuckle in slight amazement. "I was captured myself."

His sidekicks stared at him in disbelief, but Orca ignored them in favor of repeating the fight in his head. A lot of things were starting to make sense, namely why Katsuki hadn't bothered to hit him with really big explosions and settled for weak ones.

 _He was trying to keep me from detecting the two girls with my echolocation,_ Orca realized. _The whole assault from those three was just a sham to buy time and get me to let my guard down for an instant. Towards the end there, I thought the green one was using the explosions above me as a distraction…But really, he was the one doing the distracting._

The more he thought about it, the more he was amazed by how he'd been played. Izuku had taken a few moments to distract Orca from Katsuki, just long enough for the explosive teen to maneuver Kyoka, made weightless by Ochako's Quirk, above Orca to spring the trap. With Kyoka stunning him via their clashing sonic blasts, Ochako had removed his gravitational pull in order to easily shift his heavy body for capture.

The whole plan could have easily failed because of Shoto and Inasa clashing, but all in all…the strategy had been sound and the final act was performed flawlessly.

Mind you, Orca had been slowed down by the weights on his body and he was always weaker fighting on land than in the water—and against two people with powerful fire Quirks, no less. If the battle had been in his element, the students wouldn't have stood a chance, but even handicapped as he was, capturing him was no easy feat.

They'd done well.

* * *

Izuku slipped on a hoodie in his room and glanced out the window. It felt like he'd been gone for the entire day, but it was barely noon. So much had already happened today…

In the end, nearly his entire class had passed the Provisional License Exam and earned their licenses—with the exception of Shoto. He and Inasa had both failed the test for nearly striking Yo with their clashing Quirks. Fortunately for them, there was a makeup course they could take in order to earn their licenses.

Katsuki had passed by the skin of his teeth due to the language he used when rescuing the H.U.C members. The only reason he managed to get the license was because of how well he'd executed his part in their fight against Orca.

Speaking of Katsuki…

A knock at his door had Izuku jumping, but he quickly answered. "Come in!"

The spiky-haired teen walked in and shut the door behind him, his face set in a passive scowl. He leaned back against the wall, arms crossing as he glared at Izuku.

Izuku managed a weak smile. "I deserve that."

"Yeah," Katsuki muttered. He was silent for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I still think this is suicide."

"I know."

"There's no way I can convince you to tell the Pros, either."

"She has to come to them willingly, Katsuki," Izuku insisted. "I won't betray her like that. She doesn't have a lot of people she trusts as it is."

"Of course not," Katsuki scoffed, turning his glare to the wall. Izuku half-expected it to catch fire. "I'm not changing my mind. If things get ugly, I'm going to blow her into a million pieces."

"I know," the green-haired boy hesitated. "But you have to let me try to calm her down first, okay? No matter how this goes Katsuki, she's going to take some of my blood. That's the only way I can make her settle. You can't intervene unless she's trying to outright kill me or you'll make things worse."

"What, you want me to watch her cut you up?"

"Not that, but…Maybe help me keep her from going overboard?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "You know, you're going to get us killed doing this stuff."

"I really hope not."

* * *

Getting permission to leave campus for lunch wasn't hard, and Izuku mentioned that they might visit his mother and Eri while they were at it to cover them being gone for too long. Either way, they weren't allowed to come back any later than nine, when curfew was enforced.

Himiko had sent the address to Izuku shortly after the exam ended, guiding them to an apartment complex just fifteen minutes away from campus.

It was a pretty nice building. Nothing extravagant, but definitely better than the hole in the wall the two of them were expecting. Izuku led them to the apartment number Himiko had listed on the third floor and they both stopped in front of it.

Katsuki glanced up and down the empty hall, scowling deeply. There weren't a lot of people around since most of them were busy at work anyway, but even so…

"You sure this is the place?"

"This is the one…" Izuku muttered, looking down at his phone just to be sure. He pocketed the device and looked at his friend. "She said to come in whenever we got here. The door should be unlocked."

The green-haired teenager shrugged off his hoodie and wrapped it around his right arm, prompting Katsuki's eyebrow to rise. "What's that for?"

"I'm sure she's got a knife on her. I don't _think_ she'll try to stab us, but…" Izuku bit his lip nervously. "She was really rattled, Katsuki. I just want to be safe."

"Nothing about this is safe."

Izuku inclined his head in agreement and gave him one last glance. "I go first, okay?"

Katsuki was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath through his nose and tensing his body. "Yeah, alright."

They both went completely silent as Izuku twisted the doorknob and pushed the door in, entering the apartment cautiously. He glanced around the open room for any sign of Himiko, only to freeze upon spotting swirling black mist in the kitchen to his left.

Kurogiri turned away from the sink to look at them and held his hands up quickly. "It's okay. It's just me."

Izuku stayed still for a moment and debated just getting out of there while Katsuki glared venomously at the villain. Kurogiri being here meant that the League was just one warp gate away from reaching the two boys.

Kurogiri kept his arms up so the two of them could see what he was doing. "I assure you, Izuku, I'm not here to cause you any harm. I will not try to capture you or your…friend."

Izuku's internal debate lasted a few more seconds before he hesitantly closed the door behind them, but he didn't take his hand off of it. "Where's Himiko?"

The villain turned his head to look down a hall opposite them. "She's in the farthest room down the hall on the right. She was becoming increasingly unstable after coming back from the Exam Site, so I decided to lock her in her room until you arrived."

"So why are you here?" Katsuki growled dangerously.

"To ensure no one is injured," Kurogiri replied. "I have orders to keep Izuku alive. With Himiko being so dangerous right now, I have a responsibility to prevent her from causing you serious harm."

"And I suppose after that, you'll just conveniently take him to make sure he 'recovers', won't you?" Katsuki snarled.

"I will do no such thing. If he needs first-aid, I can administer it here. My orders were clear: Tomura is not ready for Izuku to be at his side and vice-versa. I'm just the mediator here, nothing more. I will not go against my orders and make a mess of this."

Katsuki wasn't buying that for a second, but he decided to at least check the place out and see if there was anything they needed to be wary of. At least he knew the foggy bastard's weakness.

He'd blow the fucker up if he so much as twitched in the wrong direction.

Izuku bit his lip, his face turning to one of concern. "How is she?"

Kurogiri's hands fell as he glanced down the hall, watching Katsuki stalk down it to inspect the first bedroom on the right. "She's…unwell. She had another episode after coming back here and I didn't dare approach her."

"Episode?"

"It's an attack of some kind," the villain explained. "I suppose it's like withdrawal symptoms alcoholics experience when they're trying to go sober. It's caused her no small discomfort. Speaking of which, avoid touching her right arm if you can. When we escaped the conflict at Kamino, she stabbed Hisashi and he burned her in retaliation."

Izuku choked on his own spit and Katsuki's head flew out of the bathroom on the left side of the hall to stare at Kurogiri with his mouth half-open. "She _what?"_

"She stabbed Hisashi," Kurogiri repeated. "They were both in shock, so she hardly scratched him and he barely burned her, but she came out of that worse off than he. She was furious with him for bringing Izuku to harm."

Katsuki scowled in disappointment. "Dammit, I was hoping she killed that asshole."

Kurogiri merely shrugged as the blonde teen grumbled and stalked around the corner of the hall to reach the last bedroom.

"I removed all the blades I could find while she was at the Exam Site," Kurogiri told Izuku, jerking him out of his momentary shock. "She should be unarmed, but she's got a talent for hiding weapons."

Izuku swallowed hard and considered that. "I think it'll be fine. If I can just get her to bite me instead of stick a knife into—"

"Uh, fog-fucker?!" Katsuki's voice suddenly garnered their attention. He walked around the corner of the hall with his thumb gesturing behind him. "You said she was in the locked room, right?"

"Yes."

"The locked room with the door wide open."

The three of them were very quiet for a few seconds.

Kurogiri strode down the hall and glanced around the corner, confirming Katsuki's discovery. He pushed the door open and looked inside, but found the room devoid of its inhabitant.

Izuku swallowed hard as Katsuki quickly walked back over to him. Kurogiri came back from around the hall's corner, tense and nervous.

"She's not in there."

"What the fuck do you mean, _she's not in there?!"_ Katsuki hissed dangerously. "Did she jump out the window?"

"She didn't leave," Izuku whispered hoarsely. "She picked the lock and got out. She's in here with us."

That did _not_ make them feel any better.

"I knew this was a bad idea," Katsuki growled lowly, his eyes darting around the room for any sign of the blonde girl.

"We have to find her," Kurogiri said quickly, striding into the first bedroom in search of his charge in case Katsuki had missed something.

Izuku made his way to the bathroom on the left and hesitantly opened it. Katsuki followed him, hands clenched and ready for a fight.

The bathroom seemed empty, but…Izuku could feel that odd sensation in his head, the same one he'd experienced during the first part of the exam earlier that day. He swallowed and held an arm out to keep Katsuki from coming in any further. "Himiko? Are you in here?"

He didn't get an answer, but he kept talking anyways. "It's just me, okay? Katsuki's my friend. He's not here to hurt you, I promise. He's just looking out for me. I came just like I said I would. Come on…let me help you."

Izuku slowly pulled the shower curtain aside to look into the tub, but found it disappointingly empty.

He turned around to look at the mirror and found himself nose-to-nose with slitted golden eyes.

A half-shriek escaped him and Katsuki jerked back in shock, eyes wide. Himiko had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and he caught only a brief glimpse of something black fading away from her skin before Izuku staggered back in fright and fell in a heap into the bathtub.

Kurogiri threw the door open to see what was going on, but froze as Himiko shot him and Katsuki murderous look. "Leave."

Katsuki felt the hairs on his neck prickle and hesitated with his mouth half-open to retort, but not before she hissed, exposing dangerously sharp canines. _"Leave."_

Izuku scrambled to his feet and held his hands out to Himiko, as if trying to calm a distressed predator. "Himiko, it's okay. Katsuki isn't going to do anything. Just—just focus on me. I'm here, let me help you."

She turned her focus to Izuku and seemed to consider that for a few moments until Katsuki growled. "Don't you dare try to kill him, blondie—"

The only warning they got was Himiko's glance at Katsuki and a dangerous haziness crossing over her golden orbs.

Izuku barely grabbed her in time to yank the girl away from his friend, preventing her from slashing Katsuki's throat with a knife she'd kept hidden in her shirt sleeve. Kurogiri's gaseous form roiled as he pushed Katsuki back to intercept any more attacks, but Izuku spun with Himiko's arm in his grasp and pulled her into the tub with him.

Her aggression went from Katsuki to him and the blade would have pierced Izuku's chest had Kurogiri not warped between them to direct the knife towards the floor, where it broke against the tile. Himiko yanked her hand out of the gate and Izuku was quick to disarm her of the broken knife, then grabbed her other wrist and spun them so she was pinned to the wall by his body.

"Himiko, stop!" Izuku cried as she struggled violently, snarling like an animal. She was putting up such a fight, he had to activate One for All just to keep her immobilized. When he was sure he had her pinned, he waited until she ceased her struggling, panting from exertion with her eyes wild and unfocused.

"That's it, look at me," he murmured, encouraging her to focus on him. "You're okay. You need my blood, I know."

"Zu…Izu…" She sounded delirious, eyes rolling and her golden orbs fogging with something insane.

"Katsuki, help me get my shirt off," Izuku called back to his friend quietly. "We have to do this here. I can't let her go or she's gonna kill someone."

Katsuki was ready to blow Himiko into bloody smithereens, but he was willing to trust Izuku with this—his friend hadn't gotten them killed yet.

Yet.

Slowly, he approached Izuku from behind and lifted his shirt off. It was tense for a moment, as Izuku had to pin Himiko's wrists with one hand and then the other to shrug it off completely, but as soon as it was done, Katsuki backed off.

Izuku kept Himiko's hands pinned above her head, watching as her eyes rolled over his exposed torso with a hungry expression. "Okay…Himiko, look at me."

Her gaze flitted up to meet his and he offered her a shaky smile. "It's alright, I'll keep you together. You can start. I won't stop you."

A keening whine escaped her throat as Izuku released her wrists and wrapped his arms tightly around her back to keep her from getting away. Then her sharp teeth were burying themselves into his flesh and the warm, iron flavor of blood flowed over her tongue.

Izuku gasped at the sharp bite and winced as she started to take his blood quickly. He felt her nails digging into his stomach, leaving bloody furrows in his skin. Glancing down, he could see his blood flowing down her chin and dripping into a mess down his torso and her shirt. Her eyes were fluttering, half-open and hazy in delirium.

Suddenly, he felt dizzy and almost staggered. As it was, he tried to slowly sit down, only for Himiko to practically shove him onto his back in the tub and pin him down, her teeth still embedded tightly in his flesh.

Everything became a blur after that and Izuku felt the weight atop him suddenly disappear, then Katsuki shouted and he heard a gurgling wail from Himiko as his world went black…

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so there are a couple of things regarding the story I want to address real quick.**

 **First, regarding the rating change I suggested last time. The possibility of the story becoming M-Rated is more for the language and violence factors than anything else. As I'm sure you've already noticed by reading up to this point, there's been a fair share of cursing and the story has become somewhat more violent since the Training Camp arc, and there will be more scenes similar to those in upcoming arcs. I'm not talking about crazy excessive violence, or violence for the sake of violence, but I'm sure the story is already kind of toeing that fine line between a T-Rating and an M-Rating. Again, this hasn't been decided yet and I might make a poll to see what the majority of my readers think about this.**

 **A lot of you were concerned that an M-Rating might just be made in order to introduce lemons or something similar, so let me address that real quick: I stand by what I've said when writing this story and any relationships that may or may not get progression- I'm not going to rush things or write unnecessary romance if it doesn't have a solid base behind it. These characters are teenagers in that awkward growth phase where they're cusping adulthood and figuring themselves out. If I do decide that maybe a mature scene would fit the story later on, (much, MUCH later, like no sooner than year two of their school life, later) I'll make sure to post a warning at the start of the chapter and before said scene, but again, this is just a possibility at the moment and it's in no way concrete in my plans for the story. The M-Rating change would be, again, mostly to cover the other mature themes such as violence and language. If you have any questions or concerns about it, feel free to shoot me a message or leave a review. (Just remember I can't respond to guest reviews, okay?)**

 **Second, the suggestion was made to create a discord server for you readers to discuss Viridescent with each other! I have no idea how many people are into this, but I figured it might be entertaining if nothing else, so I'll probably make a server for it later today after everyone finishes reading the chapter and I see how many people are interested. Yes, I'll be running it and I'll probably pop in to chat with you guys if you are interested. I guess just ask me for a link to the server, but be patient with me because I'm not great with discord lol.**

 **Third and finally, Viridescent has a TV Tropes page now, woohoo! Go check it out, a couple of my readers have been working on it of their own volition and it's turning out pretty good I think, but it could always use more input. I don't know a ton about TV Tropes, but have at it if that's your thing! If you're interested, get in touch with ssjSega, he might be able to help out.**

 **As always, special thanks to my beta readers Walk the Max Planck and FoxOnPie for helping me work on this chapter, and Max has recently been doing beta reading for another My Hero Academia author, Saint Danielle, who is writing a really interesting story called Out of Time. I took a look at it and I loved what's there so far, so go check it out. It's still pretty young, but I think it'll be really good with them working on it.**

 **Wow, that was a long author's note. As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	37. Animals

_Chapter Thirty Seven: Animals_

Katsuki had never been so baffled and furious at the same time in his entire life. He wasn't even sure if he was actually awake at this point. Maybe he was having some freaky dream in a half-awake state and he was going to open his eyes any second to find out he had to take the whole goddamn Provisional License Exam all over again.

Unfortunately, it was looking more and more like this bizarre concoction of his imagination was, in fact, real.

He could only stare at the two figures asleep on the bed in front of him—Izuku face-up on the right and Himiko lying on her side at the left. Izuku looked like he'd been mauled by a really big cat, with all the scratches and that one big bite mark on his shoulder. Katsuki had snatched the first-aid kit from Kurogiri and treated his friend himself, but he was still unconscious from blood loss. At least his color was slowly returning.

If that had been all, Katsuki would have waited until Izuku woke up, walked his friend out, called the heroes on the place, and then left Himiko to whatever fate insanity had in store for her, but that was not the case.

Because as soon as Himiko had stumbled off of Izuku's prone form in the bathtub a little over an hour ago, she had let out the most hair-raising cry he'd ever heard in his life before collapsing and vomiting blood all over the floor. Hence the reason she was lying on her side, so she didn't throw up again and choke herself to death in her sleep.

Katsuki's rage had frozen for that moment she started throwing up copious amounts of red, because he knew for a fact whatever was going on was not something that was supposed to happen. Izuku had told him that she would mellow out and calm down after exposing her five senses to blood, not start having an episode disturbingly similar to a seizure.

He'd expected to deal with some crazy bitch on a high after she got what she wanted, not a girl who looked as pale and lifeless as his friend did.

Kurogiri had been as shocked as he was, and neither of them were quite sure what to do but make the two unconscious teenagers as comfortable as possible. Katsuki was still coherent enough to not trust the gassy fuck any further than he could throw him, but he didn't make a big deal about it for Izuku's sake.

So here they were an hour later, Katsuki sitting on the end of the bed and watching for any sign of movement. Kurogiri had decided to leave for the time being and had left Himiko's phone in the kitchen in case they needed to get in touch with him.

Katsuki was tempted to blast the device into smithereens out of spite.

His eyes flitted to Izuku as the boy's face scrunched into a pained frown, and then familiar green orbs slowly opened up. Katsuki stood and walked over to him quietly, glancing at Himiko, but seeing no sign of her waking.

"Uhhh…" Izuku groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his hand against his forehead. "What…"

"Welcome back to the world of the living," Katsuki said dryly, reaching over to a small desk by the bed to grab an energy drink he'd found in the fridge. His friend needed electrolytes and sugar after losing blood so quickly. He waited until Izuku managed to sit up before shoving the bottle into his hands. "Drink."

Izuku took the drink without complaint and almost chugged it down. He didn't realize until after the cherry-flavored liquid touched his mouth how thirsty he was. After almost draining the entire bottle, he swallowed and looked up at Katsuki. "What happened?"

Katsuki nodded his head towards the opposite end of the bed, where the blonde girl was still unconscious. Izuku followed his gaze and froze. "Himiko?"

"She's out of it right now," Katsuki muttered, walking to the front of the room to grab Izuku's shirt and hoodie off of a coat rack hanging on the door. He tossed them at his friend. "Freaky shit happened. After she bled you into passing out, she threw a bunch of blood back up and keeled over. It was fucking weird."

Izuku threw Katsuki an alarmed look. "Is she okay?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know, but she hasn't woken up since then. I thought she was having a seizure, but she's been fine for the last hour."

Izuku shifted over to sit by Himiko and set the back of his hand against her forehead, frowning slightly for a few moments. "She doesn't have a fever. Did Kurogiri say anything?"

"Nope. Foggy bastard didn't know what was going on, either."

Katsuki waited in silence for a minute as Izuku worried over Himiko, but he eventually rolled his eyes and sighed. "Hey, we gotta go."

"Not until I know she's alright."

"We have no idea when she's gonna wake up," he pointed out. "And I still have no idea how we're going to explain what happened to you."

Izuku placed a hand on his chest and winced slightly. The wounds were obviously still bothering him, fresh as they were. He knew they couldn't afford to spend a lot of time here, and Katsuki was right. If he just went back to U.A all scratched up, there would be questions he needed answers to. In hindsight, he should have planned ahead for this situation, but he'd been too stressed to really think this far.

He was snapped out of his still-sluggish thoughts by a slight twitch from the girl in front of him.

Himiko's eyes opened blearily and flicked up to look at him, taking a few seconds to focus. As Izuku and Katsuki watched (the latter visibly tensing), her hand dragged across the sheets to grasp his shirt a little. "Izu?"

"Yeah, I'm here," he offered her a small smile. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," she admitted, obviously fighting to keep her heavy eyelids open. "But I feel a lot better…I can think…"

"That's good," Izuku sighed in relief. He glanced over his shoulder at the blonde boy watching them warily. "Do you remember Katsuki?"

"Kinda," she groaned, twisting her head to look at the scowling teenager. "'M sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"Not for lack of trying," he muttered.

Himiko let her head fall back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. "What about you, Izu?"

"I'm fine," he assured her. "A little scratched up, but it's not bad."

Katsuki scoffed and Izuku shot him a warning look, which the blonde returned with his finest scowl. Himiko made a small snort. "Izu, I don't remember much, but I'm pretty sure you're not just 'a little scratched up'."

"I'm fine," he insisted before standing up slowly. "Hey, um…Katsuki and I need to leave now, okay? Before someone misses us."

"Go," she waved at him half-heartedly. "Don't let me get you in trouble. I'm fine now."

"When should I come back?" Izuku asked.

"Dunno. I'll text you. It'll be a little bit."

Izuku lifted his hand to brush aside a strand of blonde hair that had fallen onto her face. "Rest up, okay? Just text me if anything goes wrong."

"Uh-huh," she managed, barely coherent as she started to doze off.

Katsuki jerked his head towards the door and Izuku followed him with an exasperated glance, but his best friend was having none of it. With one final glare amidst the apartment to ensure Kurogiri wasn't lurking somewhere, Katsuki led Izuku out.

The blonde teen shoved his hands into his pockets as they left the apartment complex, scowling in silence. Izuku frowned at him, expecting an explosive rant any second, but it seemed like Katsuki was content to stew for the moment.

Eventually, Izuku couldn't take the silence any longer and broke it himself. "How much trouble am I in?"

Katsuki huffed and didn't look at him. "I don't know. Enough for me to be pissed, but not enough for you to die."

"…That doesn't tell me anything."

"Shove it," the teen was fuming as they walked absently down the street towards the nearest subway station. They had enough time left to go visit the Midoriya household for a few hours before they would need to leave for U.A. It was only early-afternoon. Despite everything that had happened, not much time had passed, Izuku realized.

It felt like a week had gone by and he was so drained that he could drop at any minute.

"I need to think about it some more," Katsuki said finally, jerking Izuku out of his tired daze. "But I still think it's a horrible idea. It's way too dangerous with that warp fucker around, and I'm not convinced she actually wants help."

Izuku frowned. "But—"

"No, don't try to change my mind. I need to process it all, first," he interrupted his friend with a scowl. "I was ready to murder her after what she did to you back there, but then she seemed to be doing a great job dying on her own, so I'm a little confused, okay? I can kind of see that she wants to get better, but it doesn't change how dangerous this whole thing is. And what if that foggy bastard gets new orders that involve capturing you? It's really risky and I refuse to go in there blind again, so let me just think about everything."

Izuku dipped his head, sighing as his shoulders sagged. He winced as his scratches ached more and gingerly rubbed at them beneath his shirt. "We still need an excuse to cover all of these cuts I got…"

"About that," Katsuki stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at a certain store on the other side of the street, an idea coming to his mind. Izuku froze at the wide, fiendish smile growing on his friend's face. "You're about to be several thousand yen lighter."

Izuku followed his gaze and paled as he caught on. "Katsuki, _no!"_

"Katsuki, _yes,"_ the blonde cackled, throwing his arm around Izuku's shoulder and dragging the feebly protesting boy to the future ruin of his wallet.

And probably more scratches.

* * *

Kurogiri waited patiently for a response on the other end of his phone call, sitting at the table of their temporary hideout. Tomura and the others were out somewhere meeting some other group of villains, but his charge insisted that he could handle this particular event. That was fine; the villains in question weren't very dangerous and Tomura needed to learn how to be independent, anyways. It just made things more convenient for Kurogiri—he didn't have to worry about someone listening in on a conversation they weren't privy to.

After a short time, Hijack's voice finally came through. "I don't think there's much to worry over. Her reaction was likely caused by her body taking in too much blood after going without it for such a long time."

"You're certain that's all it is?"

"Never certain, but almost positive. Do tell me if anything else changes, though."

"I will," Kurogiri nodded. "Thank you for your input. I admit, I was caught off-guard."

Hijack chuckled, a wheezing laugh from lungs that had seen their fair share of use. "You're getting sloppy, Kurogiri."

"I hope not."

"Ah, there's one more thing I need to tell you," the Chimera added. "It would seem Sin Eater is currently lurking around your location."

Kurogiri paused. "Should I be concerned that he'll find us?"

"I think not, but be wary when venturing out at night for the time being," Hijack warned. "He'll probably hunt for a week or two and then move on as he always does."

"Mugetsu is really letting him get around these days."

"I'm not entirely sure she's 'letting' him do anything."

The implication of that statement made Kurogiri uncertain whether he should feel relieved or more uneasy. "Very well. I'll inform Tomura and the others to keep an eye out for him. What of Himiko? He may be drawn to the scent of blood, right?"

"He's not that close to U.A. I've been watching his tracker and he seems more intent on remaining closer to the edges of the city."

"Would it be too much to ask if you could—"

"I've already hacked into the security cameras in the apartment complex and its surrounding area. If anything off should appear, I'll be alerted to it."

"I appreciate it."

"Now, you might see to inform Hisashi first. However, do try to keep him oblivious to my involvement, will you?"

The threat was well-concealed as usual, but Kurogiri knew just how real it was. "I wouldn't dream of telling him such a thing."

* * *

Inko and Eri weren't sure if they were supposed to be happy or concerned when the two teenage boys showed up at the door. Izuku looked a little too pale and seemed to be in pain, whereas Katsuki had an enormous, shit-eating grin on his face. Both were carrying bags of supplies from a pet store.

The source of all this seemed to be linked to the carrier in Katsuki's hand, which contained something that sounded exceptionally displeased.

Inko half-blocked the doorway as she stared at the hissing carrier. "Katsuki…what is that?"

"I think it's a cat," he replied cheerily.

"You think."

"I'm pretty sure."

A deeper growl had them all glancing at the carrier, to which Katsuki shrugged. "Okay, I'm like eighty percent sure it's a cat."

Izuku rubbed his arm, which had fresh scratches covering it. "We stopped by a pet store on our way here and they had an adoption event going on for homeless pets…Katsuki saw this guy and said we had to have it. No one else wanted him."

She couldn't imagine why, Inko thought as she stared at the box with growing apprehension. Eri shrank behind her as what sounded like a miniature roar echoed from it, only to change into a low purr a moment later. "What is it?"

"It's a cat," Izuku sighed, giving the carrier a defeated look. "You know how more and more animals have been showing up with Quirks? This guy has one and well…we were told he was gonna go to a kill shelter if they didn't find him a home soon, so Katsuki volunteered to take him. We didn't even have to pay for it."

"What _kind_ of Quirk?"

"You'll see," Katsuki said, shuffling into the apartment with Inko's permission (albeit, given hesitantly). "He's not bad, he just clawed up Deku."

"You picked him because of that," Izuku complained as he followed Katsuki and his family inside.

"Shush," Katsuki set the crate and all of his supply bags down before moving to the front of the carrier with a grin. "Hey, big guy. That looks kinda cramped. Ya want out?"

The residents of the apartment all flinched as long, razor-sharp claws stabbed out through the wire door. Katsuki cackled. "Oh man, you're _so_ pissed off. Alright, out you get."

Before Inko could open her mouth to protest it, he opened the door and a black blur shot out, diving under the table and releasing a constant, deep growl.

Eri practically jumped into Izuku's arms, refusing to stay on the ground. "I'm scared!"

"T'Challa, cool your jets," Katsuki ordered the angry (feline?) creature as he shuffled through the bags and pulled out cat food and a bowl, pouring some for his unwilling pet.

"Katsuki, he doesn't know his name yet," Izuku pointed out, shifting Eri so that she wasn't leaning on some of his more painful scratches. The boy took a few steps back as the cat snarled angrily upon hearing his voice. It sounded like there was a jaguar underneath the table with how deep and fierce it was.

"Well, he's gotta learn," Katsuki muttered, placing the bowl of food just outside of the table and then backing up to sit down. The cat growl again, displeased by his food waiting such a distance away. The blonde teen rolled his eyes and scowled. "Don't give me that. Get outta there and eat."

After a few tense minutes, during which the creature beneath the table subjected them to no small amount of displeased noises, the cat came out. Inko and Eri gasped at the sight of it.

But not out of fright, because the cat in question was significantly smaller than they expected.

What walked out was a tiny, jet-black kitten no bigger than one of Izuku's shoes. Actually, with his fur puffed up as it was, he was probably even smaller than that, but it was hard to tell. Pale yellow eyes glared at them, stalking over to the bowl of food and sniffing the food without taking his gaze off the humans.

He opened his mouth and instead of a little mew, what sounded like a tiger growling echoed through the room, making everyone sans Katsuki jump. The kitten sniffed at the food once more before scrunching his nose up and glaring at them, as if he was offended that they were bribing him with such food.

Izuku watched the pale claws flex on the floor warily. "He probably needs the replacement formula, Katsuki. Remember? The lady said he was barely old enough for dry food."

"It was worth a shot," Katsuki grumbled, fishing out the bottle of formula from one of the bags while the kitten just growled, the sound going right through them.

Inko was torn between finding the little creature to be adorable and worrying it might suddenly explode into an actual panther at any second. "You still haven't told me what its Quirk is."

Izuku shrugged helplessly. "The lady trying to adopt him out just called it Big Voice. He can make sounds that really big cats make. She picked him up off the streets, so they think someone's cat had kittens and when his Quirk manifested, they freaked out and ditched him. He's not actually dangerous, just…"

"Loud?"

"Yeah."

"Right," Inko sighed. "Okay. He's cute and just sounds scary. That's okay."

Eri blinked at the kitten curiously as the small feline gazed around the apartment, looking unimpressed. "Oh, so he's like Katsuki."

Inko and Izuku both suppressed snorts at the comparison, and Katsuki just rolled with it. "Dang right, squirt. He's awesome and terrifying."

The kitten mewed, a small sound this time, before looking at Katsuki and roaring like a full-grown lion. The teenager sniggered as the Midoriyas all jumped once more.

He was going to take sick satisfaction seeing what mayhem his little monster would create at the dorms.

"Alright, T'Challa, drink up," Katsuki poured some of the formula into a small bowl and waited until the kitten decided it was worth tasting. A small, pink tongue flicked out and then he was drinking, a deep purr rumbling out of his tiny body.

Relieved that their newest pet was currently satisfied, Izuku bounced Eri in his arms and looked at her with a small smile. "Well, what do you think, Eri? Wanna eat with the kitty?"

She gave him a perplexed tilt of her head. "But isn't cat food for cats?"

"Yeah, but we can have some people food while he eats," he pointed out. "Pork cutlets?"

The hopeful look he gave his mother had her head shaking in amusement before she answered his question and watched his face light up. "Pork cutlets."

It didn't take long before the four of them had full bellies and took to relaxing in the living room. Izuku, Eri, and Inko sat on the couch together while Katsuki claimed the love seat and watched as little T'Challa set about grooming himself on the floor once he was done eating.

Eri curled up in Izuku's lap and leaned into his body, content with the way he absently ran his fingers through her hair. She was relieved that she'd be seeing him more often once school started again. She was due for at least two lessons at U.A every week, and they'd toyed with the idea of her spending some time with Izuku and the others after classes. The details of that would be sorted out once they got into the swing of things, but she was just happy to see him.

Inko, Izuku, and Katsuki chatted for a while, talking about the Provisional License Exam and what the test had consisted of. Inko couldn't really imagine everything the two boys had done, but she was relieved to hear they both passed and had earned their licenses.

It meant less legal problems for her to worry over, but the flip side was the boys could now officially do hero work, which was just as dangerous as ever. Especially given the rising crime rate—no doubt they'd hit the ground running as soon as possible.

Listening to the boys talk, however, Inko was quickly becoming aware of some kind of tension between them. Izuku and Katsuki were normally at ease around each other save their usual banter, but now…something was off. Every now and again, they'd throw one another a dirty look that seemed less playful and more serious, like they'd had a serious argument that wasn't yet resolved…

"Boys?" Inko decided to intervene after catching that exchange for the fifth time that hour. "Is everything okay?"

Katsuki's eyes flitted to her and he seemed to be debating something, to which Izuku watched him with wary eyes. Having been a mother to both of them all their lives and plenty familiar with all their shenanigans, Inko caught onto what was happening immediately.

Izuku had a secret and Katsuki knew what it was.

"Eri, sweetie?" Inko got the little girl's attention with a soft word. "How about you go grab your art supplies and bring them out here? You can make your own hero license with the boys!"

Eri lit up at the idea and leapt out of Izuku's lap before running out of the room in a blur of white hair and excited giggles. With their youngest member now out of earshot, Inko gave the two boys a careful look. "Tell me what's going on."

Katsuki and Izuku exchanged a glance that was more like a glare and Inko felt her stomach clench. That couldn't be good.

"Boys," she interjected before it could get worse. "I don't know what's happened between you two, but maybe I can help if you just talk to me. Did you get in a fight?"

"Sort of," Katsuki muttered, crossing his arms and leaning back into the chair with a particular displeased scowl on his face. "More like a disagreement."

"About what?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "It's…it's hero stuff."

The blonde teenager turned his scowl towards his best friend. "No, it's not."

"Yes it is," Izuku snapped back, looking a little angry. Katsuki's scowl darkened.

"This is _not_ hero stuff!"

"Just because we aren't fighting someone doesn't mean we aren't doing our jobs!"

"This _isn't_ our job!"

"Helping people _is_ our job!"

Inko didn't like how secretive they were being, but she refused to demand an answer from them. Force was not something she thought made a good parent, but she wasn't going to lie down and let them do whatever they wanted, either. "Enough. No yelling."

The boys leaned away from each other, refusing to look one another in the eye as they took deep breaths to try and cool their tempers. Inko shook her head slightly and sighed. "Look, I don't know what has you both so worked up, but at least consider telling someone about it. If it's…'hero stuff' that I'm not supposed to know, talk to All Might or your teachers. Don't bottle it up and let it tear your two apart. You're stronger and happier together, and you both know it."

She would be calling Toshinori anyways to ask him to keep an eye on the boys and maybe talk to them about this. Izuku rarely kept secrets from her, but when he did, they were usually big secrets.

Like how he had trained under All Might and received One for All right under her nose.

The fact that he was the one who seemed to be so determined to keep this secret worried her. Obviously, Katsuki didn't like whatever they were doing, and that concerned Inko, because the blonde teen was usually game for anything. Him being so opposed to whatever their "hero stuff" was meant it was either _incredibly_ boring, or incredibly dangerous.

She was leaning towards the latter, because Izuku wouldn't mind telling her about something that was boring. It wasn't something embarrassing, otherwise they wouldn't fight and the vibe they gave off would be more uncomfortable than offended.

Even if it was just a guess, Inko had a growing suspicion that the two of them were involved in something they shouldn't be.

Yes, she'd be telling Toshinori to watch her boys carefully.

"I think that's enough fighting for today," Inko sighed, realizing that the boys were going to be stubborn and refuse to agree right then. "Just…whatever it is on your minds, put it aside for a bit and spend some time relaxing, okay? Play with Eri, play with the kitten, eat some more…But no more fighting today. Can we do that?"

"I guess so," Izuku mumbled. Katsuki just nodded sharply and let his shoulders lower fractionally.

Luckily for Inko, their resident ray of sunshine ran back into the room at that moment with her arms full of art supplies and blinded them all with the light of her smile. "Izu! Katsuki! Let's draw! I want a hero license, too!"

If there was one thing Inko could count on to make the boys settle down and put fond expressions on their faces, it was their precious little one. So as she walked back to the kitchen to find her phone and message Toshinori, it brought Inko some relief to see the two boys moving to the floor with Eri and pulling out their hero licenses so she could make one just like theirs. Even the small black kitten, rumbling in the back of his throat like a miniature lion as he watched them from underneath a chair, couldn't shake that feeling.

And for that moment, any darkness in their minds was no longer present.

* * *

The darkness was his greatest comfort. He couldn't remember how long it had belonged to him—or he belonged to it?—but it was always where he felt most secure. Not bathed in the blinding, painful rays of light he saw when there were so many people around, making it hard for him to spot his next meal. No, it was always easier to find dinner that didn't blind him when he was in the dark.

The sliver of moon above him was of little consequence as he stalked through the alleyways of the city, sniffing, sniffing. His head throbbed painfully as it always did and he growled, disappointed in the brightness of that scent. Still hungry, his slightly elongated head flicked down one alley and then another before deciding to take the route on the left.

His luck was in—he could smell the comfort of the dark. Growing excited, he leapt up to the wall, claws digging into the bricks as he crawled closer to the source of the scent. He turned a corner and looked down, eyes focusing on his target and half-wincing. There were two of them. One of them was his beloved darkness to his eyes, the other a bright light, burning his retinas.

He had to silence his grumble for fear of alerting his dinner. He'd have his darkness and then leave the painful light alone.

Creeping down from directly above the two people was easy. The dark one had the light pinned against the wall and was yelling, obnoxiously loud while the light cringed away from it. So many of the painful light ones feared the dark ones, and he struggled to understand why. The darkness was so comforting.

And it tasted delicious.

His hand reached out, long, clawed fingers moving with steady ease to simply grasp the dark one by the throat and pluck him off the ground. The yelling from dark one stopped and became a shocked wheeze while light one suddenly shrieked, jerking away from the wall and backing off to stare at him. He didn't pay attention to light one and just looked at the comforting dark, which whimpered and struggled in his grasp to little effect.

He dropped down to the pavement and kept dark one aloft, watching the human's comparatively larger hands feebly claw at his own. His eyes slid from dark one's face to the human's chest, where he could see the steady pulse of this one's source of darkness. The elongated snout moved down and opened in a single smooth move. Teeth simply pushed past clothing and flesh and bone to find the delicacy waiting for him to seize it.

Light one's screams were drowned out by the pleasantly warm feeling of dark one's source sliding down his throat. He dropped the convulsing shape and basked in the sensation as light one ran away from him, blissfully unaware of her racing away.

Unfortunately, his bliss was cut short by the growl of his stomach. He was dragged out of his happiness and made an annoyed rumble, realizing that the meal had far from sated his hunger. He cast his gaze after light one and debated eating her source as well, but decided against it. Light sources made his stomach upset.

Irritated, he scaled back up the wall to the rooftop, leaving the corpse of dark one to whatever fate awaited it in his search for more prey.

* * *

Sharp emerald eyes watched the hulking shape in silence as it reached the rooftop not far away, silent in his observations. Hisashi almost found it comical how easy it was for him to find the creature, but not the authorities. Then again, the creature was drawn to his kind of people and not theirs, so he supposed he had a slight advantage in locating it.

He remained seated on the edge of the tower, watching the creature from sixty feet in the air. Even as he heard the familiar sound of a warp gate opening behind him, he didn't turn around.

"Kurogiri," he greeted simply.

The misty villain materialized several meters behind him and paused as he realized what his colleague was onto. "Ah. I see you've already discovered the reason for my visit. As expected of you, I suppose."

"Sin Eater isn't hard to find if you look in the right places," Hisashi shrugged, eyes locked onto the creature as it easily leapt from rooftop to rooftop, peering into the alleys in search of more prey. "Especially these days."

"The heroes haven't located him after all this time," Kurogiri pointed out, moving a little closer to the edge of the roof to watch the creature with his ally.

"He's had a nest to run to these past years," Hisashi dismissed. "I do wonder what's prompted Mugetsu to give him so much more freedom. He is…irritating if not kept in check."

"Do you suspect she's simply letting him roam free?"

"Perhaps. But I find it more likely that his hunting range has simply expanded," the villain replied. "I think if he were given enough reason, he'd run to ground and lead me to Mugetsu."

Kurogiri paused. "What reason could prompt him to do that?"

"The same reason any animal needs," Hisashi said. He paused for a moment and then whistled, a sharp, long, and loud sound that carried across the open air.

Kurogiri froze as Sin Eater stopped moving on a rooftop just a few blocks away and lifted his head in search of them. It was almost mechanical how he locked onto the two villains and with just a slight hesitation in his step, bounded over the buildings towards them with eerie silence for something so large. "Hisashi."

"Yes?" He asked innocently.

Kurogiri backed away as the sound of claws scraping stone became more audible. But not out of fear. Hisashi's tone was enough to tell the misty villain that he was in a playful mood. "Shall I tell Tomura to disregard this threat?"

"Nothing so boring, Kurogiri," Hisashi chuckled, his gaze rising as two massive, clawed hands gripped the bricks of the roof on either side of him and a blood-covered muzzle slowly towered over him. The pale eyes focused on his chest and a deep purr echoed from the beast as it moved to seize yet another delectable morsel.

Sin Eater paused however, as a hand rose up to touch his lower jaw, slowly sliding up towards his throat and then neck. His eyes rose, puzzled and slightly irritated by the unusual behavior of this dark one.

It wasn't the sudden shrieking of his instincts or the hand clamping on the back of his neck with unnatural force that made the predator's blood freeze in his veins. It was the expression on Hisashi's face.

He was smiling.

* * *

Toshinori stared through the vehicle window with a blank expression as Tsukauchi drove him back to U.A. Following his meeting with the imprisoned All for One, the former hero had gone from angry to deep in thought, though he still seemed more annoyed than anything. Toshinori was rarely silent unless he was seriously debating something or upset, and Tsukauchi couldn't tell which one it was, for once.

The Detective frowned as the traffic up ahead suddenly jumped drastically and his radio crackled. _"Alerting all available officers to a villain attack on the Kamagawa-Huhi intersection. Heroes are on the scene, but the situation has yet to be resolved. Please go about redirecting traffic and escorting civilians from the immediate area…"_

Tsukauchi sighed and glanced into his rear-view mirror before shifting lanes. "I'll take a detour."

Toshinori grimaced. "Never thought I'd see the day I'd be moving _away_ from a situation like this. The evening's just started and they're already out and about…"

"It's not your fault the villains are growing bolder," Tsukauchi admonished him. "One way or another, the age of All Might would have ended someday. It's better for you to be alive and guide the next generation through these rough times."

Toshinori didn't seem inclined to agree, but he grunted in response and returned to staring out the window. Tsukauchi glanced at his friend for a brief moment. "What's got you so worked up? All for One, or something else?"

"A little bit of everything," the former hero admitted. "I thought we'd stamped out organized crime while I was active, but it seems that they were just hiding underground, biding their time."

"The smartest villains are always the ones who hide in the shadows," he agreed. Looking to steer the conversation away from a subject Toshinori had no power over any longer, Tsukauchi decided to finally touch on something All for One had brought up. "What do you think about the situation regarding Himiko Toga?"

Toshinori shook his head slowly. "I don't know. I think there are benefits to it, but I don't think those benefits outweigh the risks."

"Ah. So it might be better not to mention it to Izuku at all?"

"I'll tell him a bit of it, I suppose. But I'm not keen on him interacting with her while she's so close to Hisashi, no. It'd be different if she would come in…"

"Do you think there's a chance of her doing that?"

Toshinori let a long breath leave him and glanced at Tsukauchi with a slight shrug. "I don't know. Do you?"

Tsukauchi merely inclined his head. "No way of knowing without talking to her."

Toshinori nodded and returned to looking out the window, pondering it all. Even with All for One behind bars, he'd left the pro hero scene with some very dangerous villains still roaming free. All six of the Chimeras were loose and who knew what other dangerous characters were lurking in the darkness, ready to emerge now that he was retired.

Staring out into the fading light, he couldn't help but wonder where Hisashi was now and what he was doing…

* * *

Kurogiri watched tensely, his gaseous body unusually still as he listened to the pained whines just meters in front of him.

It never failed to disturb him how incredibly powerful Hisashi was with his enhancements active. He had Sin Eater pinned face-first into the pavement of the rooftop, not even bothering to use his flames. Many painful bruises were already forming over the beast's pale flesh from the one-sided beating, turning ugly shades of black and purple. The Chimera had his victim's arm twisted at an unnatural angle and no amount of struggling from the beast, despite being four times Hisashi's size, could give it any leeway to escape. The most serious injury was a splintered rib protruding from Sin Eater's torso, but his attacker paid it no mind.

"Poor thing," Hisashi sneered at the creature in disgust, eyeing the emaciated figure. "Mugetsu hasn't been feeding you properly. Shame. But I suppose you're more willing to cooperate if you're hungry, aren't you?"

Sin Eater shrieked in pain as Hisashi squeezed a little harder, prompting his thick arm to make an audible crack. The predator-turned-prey scrabbled to escape, only for the Chimera to suddenly shove his face further against the concrete. He leaned down, snarling into Sin Eater's ear dangerously.

"Run along to your master, now," Hisashi ordered, uncaring if the monster couldn't understand him. A wordless, vicious growl ripped from Hisashi's throat as he released Sin Eater and made a mock lunge at him to send the beast scrambling away, leaping from the rooftop to get away.

Hisashi grimaced and dusted his hands off. "I should probably bathe in alcohol after touching that thing."

Kurogiri watched as Sin Eater bounded over the rooftops in the distance and dove into a nearby alleyway to disappear. "Do you think he'll really lead you to Mugetsu?"

"Who knows?" Hisashi shrugged, crouching on the edge of the building. "I'll keep him on the run for a few days, see where his blood trail leads. If he doesn't take me to her, I'll find another use for him. Tell Tomura and the others to stay away from this area at night. Even a cornered rat will show fight when it's life is at stake."

"You don't seem to mind that."

The Chimera half-turned his head to smirk at Kurogiri, emerald eyes gleaming in the moonlight. "No amount of fight will save a rat from _me,_ Kurogiri. If I let him live, it's because I don't feel like he's completely useless to me, yet."

Hisashi launched himself into the air with his supernatural strength, rocketing after Sin Eater at a distance to track his quarry to its lair. Kurogiri watched him disappear after a couple of seconds and decided to warp back to see how Himiko was doing. He paused for a moment and chuckled to himself unexpectedly.

 _A rat indeed,_ he thought with amusement. Heat Viper was not some common snake, after all. Kurogiri knew that All for One had a code name for each Chimera, different from their villain names as a way to disguise their individual information at times. Maybe it was simply a way for the Arch-Villain to express his pride in each achievement, but whatever the case, Kurogiri couldn't deny each title suited its owner.

Hisashi's name in their databanks was _Apophis_ for good reason.

* * *

 **A/N: So with this chapter, we've reached several milestones!**

 **First and foremost, as of this past Thursday, Viridescent is now one year old! Woohoo! I think this was a good year seeing how much you guys seemed to enjoy the series thus far! Here's to hoping the next year will be even better! Plus Ultra!**

 **Secondly, this chapter marks Viridescent's rating changing to M. This is for the reasons I've stated previously, mostly language and violence, and the possibility of some sensual content in (much) later chapters. I'm going to let this run for a little while and see what people think. Depending on the reactions, I may switch the rating back to T, but we'll see what happens.**

 **Thirdly, the discord for Viridescent is live! I made it pretty discreetly following the last chapter and it's been relatively successful, so I think I'll go ahead and invite anyone who wants to participate in the discord to join us! I'll provide a link to the discord to anyone who asks, so be sure to message me or leave a review with your request in it, I'll try to get to you as soon as possible!**

 **Speaking of the discord, it was suggested that I host a Q &A event on it for Viridescent's first birthday, so if anyone is interested in that, the event will likely be this Monday sometime in the afternoon. I will post more information regarding it over the next day or so, and we'll find a concrete time for anyone who wants to participate :)**

 **This chapter was originally going to be longer and include some fluff, but with the darker tones I've introduced, I've decided to save most of the fluff for next chapter. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this foray into the dark themes and prepare yourselves for more. It's almost October, after all. Reference to the upcoming Halloween in case any of my readers have no idea what that means.**

 **I think that's it, so as ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	38. Fathers

_Chapter Thirty Eight: Fathers_

Inko decided it would be safer to just drive Izuku and Katsuki back to U.A herself. It was getting dark, and although they still had ample time to make the train, she took it upon herself to ensure the boys would get to their dorms safely. It was a motherly thing.

So after fighting T'Challa back into his carrier, the little family drove to U.A.

Everyone was getting tired, so talking was simple and short amidst the displeased, feral growls made by the comically tiny kitten. Katsuki kept the crate in his lap in the front seat, while Izuku sat in the back with Eri and the rest of T'Challa's pet supplies. The kitten eventually quieted, save for a few rumbles.

Izuku absently carded his fingers through Eri's hair, watching the cars flit by through the window. She was leaning against him, happy to be near his warmth again.

Katsuki glanced from the little girl in the backseat, ensuring she was too absorbed in Izuku's presence before looking to Inko. "She's doing good without us around, right?"

Inko didn't take her eyes off the road as she considered the question. "I can tell she's a little put-out by it. She's quieter without you two, but I think she's still happy."

Izuku looked up at his mother, having picked up some of the conversation. "Have the police found anything yet? About where she came from, or…"

"I haven't been told anything you don't already know," Inko murmured, sighing a little. Her lips curved up into a smile a moment later. "But about her legal situation…I finally managed to get permission to file an adoption form for her!"

"Really?!" Izuku exclaimed. "That's great!"

Katsuki grunted, but he had a small grin on his face. "About time."

"It's a lengthy process," Inko agreed. "But a necessary one. The police have been a big help and I think it should be relatively quick, but…she'll officially be a member of the family, soon."

Izuku gave her a little smile as Eri looked up at him, unsure what any of that meant. "How about that? Think you can handle us forever, Eri?"

Eri buried her face into Izuku's arm, trying to hide the happy blush and large smile spreading over her cheeks as he laughed and ran gentle fingers through her hair.

When they arrived at U.A, Aizawa was waiting for them by the gates. The Pro gave each of them a quick scan with his eyes to ensure none of them were impostors before grunting and inclining his head towards the school. "Okay, we're good."

His eyes locked onto the carrier in Katsuki's arms and narrowed for a moment. "Except for that. What do you have there?"

"An animal," Katsuki muttered. "Dr. Doolittle keeps a ton of them in his room, doesn't he? I can have one, too."

"I'll be the judge of that," Aizawa retorted, leaning down to inspect the creature inside of the crate. He blinked at the little black kitten, who blinked back before opening his mouth and roaring like a lion. The Pro merely raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

Izuku gave their teacher a nervous smile. "He's got a Quirk, but it just lets him sound like big cats! He's harmless otherwise…"

"…fine. The cat can stay," Aizawa decided surprisingly quickly. "But it's your responsibility and I fully expect you to take him to Hound Dog for a vet checkup at your first opportunity."

"Yes, sir," Izuku nodded, grateful for the acceptance.

"M-mister?" Aizawa blinked and looked down at Eri, who was clinging onto Izuku's sleeve nervously. "Can I, umm…c-can I sleep over with Izu?"

Izuku gave Aizawa an apologetic, but pleading look. Eri had a little backpack on and it was clear she was all set in case her wish was granted. To refuse would've been like kicking a puppy.

The Pro Hero rolled his eyes, but he didn't mind. "It's fine. The students have the day off tomorrow, anyways. You can stay for the night."

Smiling largely, Eri hugged Izuku tightly. "Yes!"

Inko dipped her head gratefully to Aizawa before looking at the boys with motherly sternness. "I expect you both to be good influences around Eri."

"I'm the best influence she could ever have," Katsuki scoffed.

"We'll take care of her," Izuku promised, waving as his mother retreated back to her car. "Goodnight, mom!"

"Goodnight, honey!"

* * *

Leading Eri and Izuku into the dorms, Katsuki opened the door and drawled loudly. "Oi, we're back!"

"Welcome back!" Was the chorus that responded from around the main living area. A number of their classmates were lounging around, watching tv or reading or cooking. Although Eri had met everyone before, it had been a while and she was visibly nervous about all of this, clinging tightly to Izuku's hand.

Ochako blinked at the sight of the little girl and offered her a smile and a wave. "Well, hi there, Eri! Did you come to visit us?"

"She's gonna spend the night with me," Izuku replied sheepishly, although he smiled down at the nervous child. "She was missing Katsuki and I back home."

"I'm glad she came over!" Mina exclaimed brightly. "I missed my smallest horn buddy!"

Eri buried her face into Izuku's leg shyly, unsure what to do with all the attention. Fortunately, T'Challa took the opportunity to make his displeasure with all the noise around him known, and yowled loudly from inside the crate.

The sound garnered the attention of the other students quickly. Hanta leaned around the couch to get a better look at the crate Katsuki was carrying. "Hey, whatcha got there, man?"

"It's my cat," Katsuki snapped back. "Got a problem with that?"

"A kitty!" Toru clapped her hands together excitedly. "Can I pet him?"

Katsuki shrugged and took the crate to the nearest table, where he set it down and placed the pet supply bags next to it. Several of their classmates crowded around to get a good look at the newest resident of the dorms.

T'Challa yowled again, annoyed by all the people around him. Katsuki rolled his eyes and opened up the door to the crate before backing up. "Out you get, boy."

His gruff tone had Momo frowning. "What kind of way is that to talk to something so small? You'll scare him."

The kitten's growling only seemed to confirm this, seeing as he was backed up in the crate and showed no signs of leaving. Katsuki gestured to the small cat. "Be my guest, then."

Silently, he was pleading for the kitten to do what he did best, as Momo crouched in front of the crate and reached in with a gentle smile on her face. "Hello there, little one. Can I pick you up?"

To Izuku's surprise and Katsuki's slight disappointment, it seemed like T'Challa was perfectly fine with Momo taking him out of the crate and holding the kitten securely, keeping him close to her. The small, black cat even started to purr as she stroked his fur with gentle fingers.

Momo lifted her head to give Katsuki a slightly smug look. "See?"

"Nnn," Katsuki grunted reluctantly, giving the kitten a leer that was completely ignored. _Traitor_.

"Hey, little dude!" Denki exclaimed, pushing forward to reach for the kitten's small head. "Mind if I scratch your ears? You look so fluffy!"

T'Challa saw the incoming hand and heard the loud voice being associated with it and did what all cats did when they saw something they didn't immediately want in front of them: he swatted at it. When that failed to deter Denki (who misinterpreted the gesture as something playful) he fell back to his other, less common method.

His tiny mouth opened and a tiger's roar blasted Denki's face and the eardrums of everyone in the room.

Shrieks and yells filled the lobby as T'Challa's roar took everyone by surprise. Denki jumped backwards out of his skin and straight into Dark Shadow, who screeched and dove into Fumikage's hoodie in fright. Shoto was so shocked that his left side momentarily went up in flames, causing Mina to shriek and dive for the floor, taking Toru with her. Momo managed not to freak out enough to drop him, but she was as startled as everyone else.

Immediately following the chaos, Katsuki's uproarious laughter filled the room as a huge, shit-eating grin crossed over his face. While he was in hysterics, Eijirou stared at him, still a pale shade of white, and clutched at his heart. "You knew that was gonna happen?!"

"You bet I did!" Katsuki cackled, almost doubled-over from laughter.

"Not cool, bro!" Eijirou shoved the other teen's shoulder, but it was ignored entirely. The red-head's hand beat at his own chest a few times to make sure his heart was still working properly. "Holy crap…"

T'Challa, in the center of all the chaos, was satisfied that his message was received and let out a tiny mew. Momo stared at the kitten, her shock turning to intrigue. "How did…wait, does he have a Quirk?"

"Yep," Izuku confirmed apologetically, taking a moment to pick up Eri and prop her on his right side at her prompting. She was getting nervous from all the commotion and wanted to be closer to him. "It's called Big Voice. Harmless Quirk, but it'll scare the daylights out of you if you aren't expecting it."

"You don't say?" Ochako managed dryly, taking deep breaths to slow her accelerated heart rate.

Katsuki managed to get ahold of himself and started rummaging around with the cat stuff. "Whew…hehe…Deku, I'm gonna get this stuff sorted out. You should probably get Eri set up in your room, right?"

"Yeah, we'll see you guys in a few minutes," Izuku agreed, turning for the elevator with Eri still held close to him. Behind them, the rest of the class was still mostly focused on T'Challa, who had started to purr in Momo's arms.

* * *

Having reached his room, Izuku went about helping Eri set up all her stuff for the night. It was more or less predetermined that she'd be sleeping with him, so they got her backpack set up on his desk and got out all the stuff she'd need. Once they were done with that, he pulled out her pajamas and helped her get dressed.

"Reach for the stars," Izuku murmured, prompting Eri to throw her little hands up high. She giggled as he took her bunny-themed nightshirt and pulled it over her head, wiggling to get into the soft cotton. As soon as her head had popped out from under the fabric, he booped her nose with his index finger, smiling fondly at her sweet face. "Are we missing anything else?"

"You're not in your pajamas, silly!" She pointed out, cheeks raised high in a grin.

"I'll get changed later," he assured her. Staying crouched in front of the little girl, Izuku lifted his hands to gently smooth some of her hair out of her face. "So, what do you think? Should we go back downstairs to see everyone, or do you want to stay here with me?"

Eri's smile faded somewhat and she pursed her lips. Izuku had a feeling this might be a bit of a snag for her—Eri had improved in leaps and bounds since she was rescued, but she was not good with crowds, even when they were Izuku's friends. It was easy for her to forget about it when she was having fun, (she'd had a blast during the summer at the school pool, after all) but it still made her nervous. And it had been a while since she'd interacted with any of them—the last time had been at the hospital after the Kamino Incident, which hadn't been the best of experiences.

"Will you be with me all the time if we go downstairs?" She asked quietly.

"Of course I will," he promised. Izuku cupped her cheeks in his hands. "Hey, we don't have to go if you don't want to, okay? I know it's a little scary. We can just stay here if you like."

"I-I want to go…" Eri managed in a small voice.

He couldn't help but smile a little. Eri wanted to be brave, and that was ok, he just didn't want to push her too far out of her comfort zone. Baby steps.

"I'll tell you what," he began. "We can go downstairs and watch a movie with the others, but if you want to get away from all the noise, just let me know, alright? We can stay for as long as you want or come right back here if it's too much."

"Okay," she agreed, still looking nervous.

Izuku suddenly lifted her into his arms and stood up, getting a squeak out of the little girl. He pressed his lips to her forehead in a protective gesture. "I've got you, alright?"

Eri snuggled up close to him and hummed her agreement, already relaxing in his embrace. As careful with her as ever, Izuku held her securely and got them out of his room, making their way towards the lobby and the rest of his class.

* * *

In the darkness of the city's back alleys, Hisashi pressed his fingers against a concrete wall with a distinct stain covering it. Pulling his hand back and inspecting the residue confirmed it was dried blood. He grimaced—Sin Eater evidently hadn't stopped running just yet. This was at least an hour old.

He'd kept himself at a distance from the injured beast, but he'd kind of hoped it would've stopped fleeing after the first three hours. Either its nest was further away than he'd anticipated or it was so scared of Hisashi hunting it down that it was letting fear rule its higher functions.

Well, whatever. At least it was easy to track.

A vibration in his jacket pocket caught his attention and Hisashi pulled out a cell phone, raising an eyebrow at the number before he answered it. "What?"

"Heard you're on some kind of wild goose chase. Mind if I join you?"

Hisashi considered the offer and the time. It wasn't like he'd be making a move on Mugetsu's possible hideout tonight, and tracking Sin Eater wouldn't be overly difficult. He could make an excuse and refuse if he wanted to, but in the end, decided he wouldn't mind. "Sure. Have Kurogiri send you over."

The call ended immediately and it wasn't a minute later that a black portal opened up. Hisashi watched as Dabi walked through it before Kurogiri retreated back to the hideout.

Hisashi inclined his head towards the blood trail and grunted. "Come on, then."

Dabi eyed the dried blood with a raised brow. "Someone get on your bad side?"

"Nothing so mundane," the older man replied. "But I'm hoping this might lead us to Mugetsu's location."

"Mm," Dabi hummed noncommittally, walking after Hisashi with his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"How'd the meeting go?"

"Up in flames," Dabi scoffed. "Bunch of useless thugs who just wanted to throw their weight around. Tomura decided we didn't need 'em."

"I see," Hisashi studied another bloodstain and then glanced ahead, following the trail. It seemed Sin Eater had opted to remain on the ground from this point on. Good, he had gotten tired of bounding over rooftops for the night. "What did you want to see me for?"

"Curiosity, mostly," Dabi admitted, going silent for a few moments. "If I ask you something personal, are you going to turn me into a pile of ashes?"

"No."

"…It's about your son."

Hisashi paused and his eyes slid over to Dabi, glittering with something between wariness and warning. "What about him?"

Dabi was undeterred by the posturing, but he looked uncomfortable, like he wasn't sure how to phrase his question. "Why are you so hard on the kid?"

"What do you mean?"

Dabi scratched the back of his head, eyes shifty. "Well, everything, I guess. I kind of get why you had to be rough with him when we dropped in on U.A's training camp, but why everything else after that? The kid came back to the bar black and blue after every training session you guys had."

Hisashi frowned, not quite understanding. "He needed to learn how to use his Quirk properly. It's not an easy one to master."

"Sure, but why go so far?" Dabi pressed. "There's no way he was ever going to want to join us willingly after everything you and Tomura's teacher put him through."

"All for One had his reasons for doing things the way he did."

"But what about you?"

"What are you getting at?" Hisashi asked, growing a little irritated. "If you have something to ask me, ask me clearly."

Dabi was starting to look agitated himself, although he hid it well. "Did you think beating your son was the only way to teach him?"

Hisashi's eyes flashed dangerously and his body was up in emerald flames in an instant. Dabi mirrored him, blue fire licking at his skin as he glared back at Hisashi, as though he knew he wouldn't win a fight against the Chimera, but refused to cower in the face of that knowledge.

The alleyway flickered with eerie green and blue lights against the darkness, as the fire from the two villains burned silently.

 _"Watch your tone_ , _boy,"_ Hisashi warned him, his voice a deep growl. "How I handle my son's training is my business."

"Bullshit," Dabi retorted.

Hisashi's glare darkened, but he didn't smite the younger man where he stood for his impudence. Half of him was admittedly furious that Dabi had the nerve to tell him that, but the other half was curious; Dabi had always struck him as one of the more sensible members of the League, up there with Kurogiri. This wasn't something he'd expected from the normally reserved villain. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Because you'll fuck it up," Dabi snapped at him. "You won't get anywhere by treating your son like that and one day, he'll turn around and he'll give you what you had coming from the moment you put hands on him."

Hisashi's glare twisted into a frown. That sounded too impassioned to be some kind of concern for Izuku or general questioning of his training methods. He let his fire dim somewhat and gave Dabi a scrutinizing look. "Who are you? Now that I think of it, I don't know much of anything about who you are. Dabi isn't even your real name. What does my relationship with my son matter to you?"

"That doesn't concern you," the younger man retorted.

"Give and take," Hisashi shot back. "You want me to take whatever you're accusing me of seriously? Level with me. Give me a reason to listen to you."

Dabi went silent for a few seconds, as though mulling it over. "We'll waste time talking about it. Your little victim might get away."

"He's miles away already and I'll find him when I so choose," Hiashi dismissed, letting his flames fade entirely. _"You_ came to _me_. Finish what you started."

Dabi scowled and the blue fire coating his body dissipated as he glared sideways into the shadows. "Fine…"

* * *

The lobby was a flurry of activity as the students took their time relaxing, chatting amongst one another and otherwise doing what teenagers did. Most were huddled around the tv, playing video games and making a ruckus as Mina, Ochako, Denki, and Hanta went at it on Smash Bros.

Momo was sitting at one of the tables near the kitchen, sipping some tea and reading a book as T'Challa—who had deemed her his favorite out of all the other students—napped in her lap. Katsuki was seated across from her, headphones covering his ears and also reading, but with a scowl on his face. It was also worth mentioning that Momo's small smile had a hint of smugness.

Vengeance was sweet.

Eri watched the commotion from beside Izuku, who was baking in the kitchen with Rikido. She kept one of her hands attached to his t-shirt, ensuring he was never too far away. She was content where she was—it was noisy on the other side of the lobby and she felt more comfortable with her guardian. When Izuku found out the others were going to play video games, he opted for himself and Eri to stay in the kitchen where it was a bit quieter and bake instead.

"Eri?"

She jumped and looked up as her guardian got her attention with a gentle touch on her shoulder. He smiled at her calmingly and offered her a strawberry that had been dipped into sugar. "Want a taste?"

Her eyes brightened as she gave him an eager nod, accepting the juicy morsel and biting into it. While she enjoyed the sugary treat, Izuku looked at the others across the lobby to see what they were up to. And right on time, too.

"Yeah! Here it comes!" Ochako shouted eagerly. She yelled across the room. "Deku! Three! Two! One!"

"Final…Smash!" Izuku shouted back in amusement as Ochako's game character (Inkling) positively splattered the other players with a giant paint gun. Only Mina's Ridley managed to avoid getting wiped out, but Denki's Pikachu and Hanta's Fox were blown away.

"Damn!" Denki complained as he lost his final life, only to get smacked in the head by Kyoka for it. "What was that for?!"

"Watch your mouth," Kyoka snapped, scrolling along her phone without looking up to reply. "Eri's here, you dolt."

"Oops," Denki paled and frantically waved at Izuku across the room. "My bad, dude!"

Izuku glanced at Eri, who was completely absorbed in savoring her sugar berry. Dodged a bullet, there. "Just don't do it again."

Hanta had also lost his last life in Ochako's Final Smash. Now the sole survivor, Mina, focused on the game with a wide grin and started button mashing. "Come at me, Ochako!"

"Bring it!" Ochako accepted her challenge head on.

He was glad to see his friends all having a good time. It had been too long since they got to do something like this with each other. Now that they were all living together, times like these would undoubtedly become more common, but with how much work they had to do with the upcoming semester, they couldn't be more than occasional indulgences.

Izuku looked down as Eri tugged at his shirt. He offered her a smile. "Want some more?"

"Um…can we go outside?" She asked, shifting a little closer to him to partially hide her face.

He nodded without hesitating and looked at Rikido. "Can you handle the rest of this?"

"All I have to do is get the batter into pans and toss these in the oven," Rikido grunted, waving him away. "Go do what you gotta do, man. I've got this covered."

"Thanks," Izuku said, scooping Eri up into his arms and making his way outside into the courtyard.

He closed the door behind them and made his way into the cool, nighttime air. It wasn't chilly yet, but it was definitely cooler with the passing of the Summer months. The slight breeze felt good.

Izuku hoisted Eri on his left hip and held her there securely with both arms. "Better?"

"Mmhm," she hummed, nuzzling into his collar. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he reassured her gently, pressing his lips to the crown of her head. "You're doing great. It's fine to need breaks, alright? You don't have to apologize for that."

Eri nodded silently and just snuggled up as close to him as she could. Izuku walked around the courtyard slowly, humming softly to help her relax. Eventually, he found a little spot near the back that wasn't so in-view of the dorm windows and sat down in the soft grass to lean against the side of the building. She curled up in his lap, quickly lulled into peace by his body heat.

Izuku kept her close with one arm and lifted another to run his fingers through her hair. Thinking about things, it was probably about to be bedtime for the little girl—she _was_ looking rather tired. Then again, he thought with some amusement, he was probably part of the reason for that, seeing as Eri was more at ease when she was close to him than anywhere else.

"Eri?" Her soft hum indicated that she heard him, so he continued. "How about we go to bed in a few minutes? I can cook you breakfast tomorrow morning and we can have some fun with Katsuki. Sound good?"

"I don't wanna sleep," she murmured, surprising him a little. Eri looked up at him with scarlet eyes that held a hint of sadness to them. "I wanna stay up with you."

Izuku felt his heart clench. He knew she was missing him and Katsuki at home while they were here, at U.A, and he couldn't see her all the time like before. Sure, they'd be seeing each other more often when school started again, but even so…

"I'm here whenever you need me, okay?" Izuku promised her. "You can always call for me and I'll come running."

"But I _miss_ you."

He bit his lip at the sound of her distressed voice. Those new, unfamiliar, but powerful instincts that had begun to stir within him from the moment Eri came into his care _hated_ hearing her saddened like this. It was a bad, _wrong_ sound that should have been happy and bright and _good_. Those instincts demanded he give her the comfort she so needed, but Izuku was not ruled completely by his heart or his instincts. That being said, he wondered if there was some way to compromise in a manner that would make Eri happier.

"I'll talk to mom and my teachers about it," he told the child, lifting a hand to cup her cheek and stroke the soft, pale skin with his thumb. "We'll figure something out, okay?"

She nodded in quiet acceptance and Izuku could tell she wasn't completely reassured by his words, so he gathered her up in his arms and stood. A little squeak of surprise left Eri as she scrambled to hold onto his shirt more tightly, even though she knew he would never let her fall.

He brought them inside and upstairs, avoiding the others to make it to his room as quickly as possible. Once they were inside, Izuku set Eri on the bed and got changed before plugging in the All Might nightlight they'd brought along for this little sleepover. They brushed their teeth together in the bathroom before Izuku shut the lights off so only the nightlight's dim glow kept the room lit.

Izuku picked up Eri and lay down with her, pulling the blankets over them. He bundled her tiny form close to his body and curled around her protectively, letting his warmth flow over the little girl. "Sweet dreams, Eri. I love you."

The way she burrowed into his embrace, mumbling some incoherent response in a sleepy voice, made him hope that she would be happy even if he wasn't always around. And happier when he was.

* * *

Hisashi couldn't say he was completely taken by surprise after hearing Dabi's story. He'd met people like him before during his life, but even then this wasn't something he'd entirely anticipated. He supposed it wasn't outside the realm of possibilities, and yet…

Dabi avoided looking at him, a half-hearted glare boring into a random wall to his right. Hisashi studied the young man with a frown—suddenly a lot of what he'd been saying shortly after meeting with the Chimera held a lot more weight to them. He wasn't just preaching his personal beliefs, he was giving Hisashi a very vivid and legitimate reason to take him seriously.

Now, eyes trailing over the patchy bits of skin that was permanently scarred from some horrific event orchestrated by Dabi's own father during his childhood, Hisashi couldn't help but be reminded that he'd scarred his own child. And Dabi's hatred for his father ran deep and fierce and it was unforgiving in its intensity.

Did Izuku feel the same way towards him? Did he want nothing more than to bring about Hisashi's end with his own two hands, to shatter his being into a thousand, irreparable pieces? Was it too late to have any connection to his son beyond violence and bloodshed?

Hisashi didn't want that. He had his…disagreements with Izuku, but he barely knew him and Hisashi hated that he didn't know his own son.

Of course, the only feeling Izuku could associate with Hisashi was violence and misery. It was a dreary thought for the Chimera, who suddenly felt much more tired than he ever had before.

"What would you have me do?" Hisashi asked of Dabi wearily. "I don't want Izuku to think of me the way you do of your…parent, but I've hardly given him much of a reason to feel otherwise."

"You're his father," Dabi snapped, still irritated after explaining his situation to the older man. "Act like it."

"How?"

"How should I know? I'm not a parent."

"You think I am?" Hisashi asked him sharply, not angry so much as annoyed with himself. His brow twisted into a frown. "I never got to meet Izuku when he was a baby or see him grow up. I'm a stranger to him and he only knows that I've hurt him. What am I supposed to do to keep him from…"

He trailed off, but Dabi chuckled humorlessly. "To keep him from ending up like me?"

"I didn't say that," Hisashi sighed, although he closed his eyes briefly in resignation. "You're better than your father is. You at least are capable of empathy."

"Are you?" Dabi asked quite seriously.

The Chimera paused and his shoulders sagged, the motion unable to relieve the terrible weight he bore. "I do not know if I am anymore."

"You might want to learn how to do that again."

"Does it even matter now if I do?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

Hisashi blinked at Dabi with an aggravated glare. "Because _I impaled my own child on a steel pipe,_ that's why."

"Yeah, you fucked up pretty hard."

Hisashi was about three seconds from giving up on the conversation and just going after Sin Eater to beat the beast into a stain to make himself feel better when Dabi shook his head. "It might matter, it might not. You gave the kid some good reasons to hate you, but do you care enough to try and make up for what you did to him?"

"What kind of question is that?" He snapped. "Of course I do."

"Why?"

The question caught him off-guard. "Isn't that obvious?"

"Is it?" Dabi queried. The only reason he was even getting away with asking all of these personal questions was because Hisashi decided to take him seriously after hearing about his childhood.

He was, if nothing else, a credible source of information when it came to how _not_ to handle your child. Since Hisashi was completely unknown to the ways of parenthood, (and he couldn't exactly ask Inko how to behave with Izuku anymore) Dabi was the only person who could tell him what he desperately wanted to know.

Not, of course, that Dabi would realize how badly he wanted to know these things. But this question would give away Hisashi's desire no matter how he responded.

"You probably know me better than you know Izuku," Dabi pointed out. "He's only your child by blood and that doesn't mean much. So why do you care enough to try making up for what you've done to him?"

Part of him hated Dabi because he had no right to be so invasive and question his motives like this, but Hisashi knew the younger man was his best shot at trying to form some kind of relationship with Izuku that didn't involve them trying to kill one another.

"He's my _son."_

He didn't know what else to say, but it was enough for Dabi to give the Chimera the benefit of the doubt. There was a weight to the way Hisashi said that, even if he was likely blind to it, that carried everything he needed to say. A weight Dabi's father lacked, because he _was_ the man's son, but not out of warmth or affection, simply necessity. Dabi was a means to an end and he had not been able to serve the purpose his father required of him. So he had been discarded.

Hisashi did not speak as though he were talking of an object he desired to be in his possession. His voice carried a near-undetectable softness that Dabi recognized because it was a foreign, but stark sound he'd lacked growing up. It was a natural tenderness that even the hardest of people could speak with when their children had been born of real love and affection, and not some twisted desire of their own making.

Even if Hisashi had not known that kind of affection for many, many years, that he was capable of it was more than Dabi could say for his own father. If nothing else, Dabi would do his best to help the wayward Chimera's relationship with Izuku just so he could rub it in his old bastard's face one day.

And then Dabi would deliver the retribution his father had coming to him. With interest.

* * *

Eri had nightmares.

It wasn't anything unexpected given her abusive life prior to Izuku and Katsuki rescuing her, especially because of how young she was. Most of her nightmares caused her to shiver and whimper in her sleep, and she could be lulled back to peace after a moment of soothing words and gentle touches.

Night terrors were different.

Izuku's eyes flew open as Eri's _shriek_ filled the room and his gaze shot down to the child writhing violently in his arms. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat and even in her sleep, tears slid down her cheeks out of pure fear.

"Eri," Izuku gripped the girl firmly, but gently and tried to shake her awake. "Eri, wake up. Sweetie, wake up. It's not real—Eri? Eri!"

His heart lurched as the horn on her head began to spark and Izuku shook her with a bit more force before her Quirk could surge up. Eri's eyes snapped open wide, enormous red orbs staring back at him, unseeing and filled with some unspeakable horror. Izuku scooped her up and bundled the girl in his lap, whispering softly, but frantically to calm her. Aizawa wasn't here to erase her Quirk if she lost control and she wasn't yet skilled enough to shut it down herself, especially when she was in such an agitated state.

"Baby, it wasn't real," Izuku reassured her, kissing her forehead and doing his best to ignore the brief spark of energy from her horn that made his skin flare with uncomfortable heat. "Shh, shh, I'm here, I love you, you're safe."

The sparks along her horn ceased and Eri shattered.

Broken sobs wracked her body as she cried, trembling with the force of her fear and whatever phantom pains she'd gone through in her nightmare world. It was worse because it had been real some time ago and to relive those dark days in her life was the most terrible thing she could think of. She babbled in choked gasps the horrors she'd felt and seen, none of it real and all of it much too cruel for her to even have to imagine. The evil people had captured and tortured her again, even more vicious than they'd been before, and then she wailed because they had taken Izuku from her and blown him into a thousand bloody fragments.

Izuku could only hold her and let it run its course, soothing his little one as best he could that she was safe and he was here and that the evil people who had once tortured her would never, _never_ hurt her again. The monsters from her nightmares would remain trapped in those bad dreams that Izuku drove away with gentle words and touches, and if they _dared_ to step foot outside of that place, he would destroy them.

It took him the better part of twenty minutes to calm Eri down, humming softly to her as she sniffled and tried to burrow further into his chest. He was certain that was an impossibility at this point.

She mumbled something and he frowned. "I didn't hear that sweetie, what did you say?"

"I…" Her bottom lip trembled and she looked like she was on the verge of tears again. "I h-had an accident…"

He'd been so absorbed in trying to calm Eri that Izuku was just now realizing the sheets they were sitting on were wet. He recognized the smell quickly enough and stood up with Eri, getting out of the soiled sheets and moving to the bathroom to grab a pair of towels. He stuffed them into Eri's small backpack and threw it over his shoulder before carrying the girl out of his room and to the elevator.

"I-I'm s-sorry," she cried, her small body shaking with upset. Izuku kissed her brow and hushed her gently.

"It's okay. Let's get you cleaned up, alright?"

The elevator doors opened and he found himself face-to-face with a very sleepy looking Ochako.

The girl rubbed her eyes sleepily in the darkness of the lobby and squinted at him in confusion. "Deku? Wha…"

He didn't know why she was up, but her eyes cleared as she heard Eri's sniffles and realized something was wrong. "What's the matter?"

"Night terror," Izuku said shortly, all business as he moved past the girl and towards the showers. "I need to clean her up."

Ochako looked startled by his no-nonsense tone and followed after a moment's hesitation. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

He didn't pause as he opened the door to the shower rooms. "Do you have some kind of body wash?"

"Yeah, I'll go grab it," Ochako darted off and left Izuku to move into a shower stall with Eri. He set her down gently, but stayed close as he helped her out of her dirty pajamas and underwear, then got the water going, waiting for it to warm. Eri's sniffles were quieting, but her eyes were red from crying and she had caught some hiccups.

Ochako returned in a mere minute with a bottle of pink body wash and handed it to Izuku after finding them once again. "Will this work?"

"Yes, thanks," Izuku let go of Eri briefly and he straightened. Ochako's gaze went from the little girl to her guardian as she heard the rustle of clothing.

When her eyes locked onto him, he was pulling the shirt over his head and tossing it to the side. "What are you doing?" Her throat went dry as her eyes unhelpfully found themselves staring at Izuku's stomach. The small, circular scar on the left side stood out more with its paler skin.

"Getting in with her," he replied without looking at his friend. Izuku kept his shorts on as he scooped Eri back up and tucked her against his chest, then stepped into the warm shower of water. As the warmth trickled over them, he sighed and slowly began to bounce Eri in his arms to calm her. "Shh, easy baby girl. I've got you. We're fine…"

Ochako remained silent as she watched Izuku settle the child down in the shower. She helped him wash her by filling his spare hand with the body wash when he asked for it, but kept her distance otherwise. Eri needed Izuku right now, not her.

And while this wasn't exactly how she imagined she'd been spending her time twenty minutes after three in the morning, she wasn't upset that she was losing sleep to help Izuku care for Eri.

Before long, Eri was nearly asleep once again, her head tucked into Izuku's neck and her cheek smushed up against his shoulder. Her little body was cleaned of the mess, but she was completely exhausted from the ordeal.

Izuku stepped out of the shower and accepted the towels Ochako had pulled from Eri's backpack at his prompting, wrapping the girl up in the fluffiest one to keep her warm while he dried himself off. With that finished, he dried Eri and got her into the clean clothes from her bag before scooping up his charge once more and making for the lobby.

"Thank you," he murmured to Ochako quietly.

"I don't mind," she replied, Eri's backpack tossed over one shoulder. "I'm happy to help, Deku. I'm actually kind of glad I passed out down here, now."

"Me too," he agreed, smiling a bit. He looked exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes. Ochako felt a pang of sympathy for him and, also tired beyond reason, made a suggestion.

"Hey, if your sheets are messy, you two can come crash with me if you like? We can get them cleaned tomorrow."

Izuku hesitated, but he was so tired he couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed or shocked by the question. "It's not too much trouble?"

"Not at all. C'mon."

She led them upstairs to the girl's side of the dorms and to her room. By then, Eri had basically passed out in Izuku's arms while the two teenagers were little more than stumbling zombies. Even so, Izuku was careful to lay Eri on the bed and situate her before he crawled in with his back to the wall, pulling the small child close to him.

Ochako slipped into the bed next to him, barely remembering to put her sleeping gloves on as she collapsed into the pillow with a sleepy noise. Her eyes stared at the exhausted, half-open green orbs from over Eri's head until they closed in sleep. Not seconds later, she drifted into her own dream world, where it was a safe, warm place for them all.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for how late this is, but I need to take breaks to let my brain rest from writing every now and again to keep things fresh and such. As it is, this is just a fluff chapter with a few sprinkles of plot in it because reasons and we'll get back into the story next chapter. Also, this is the holiday season and as such, I've been incredibly busy. This isn't the best chapter I've written (and I'm publishing it at 3am so I'm dead-tired), but it's fluffy, so woohoo. Whatever the case, as ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	39. Ripples

_Chapter Thirty-Nine: Ripples_

It was early morning in the maximum security prison of Tartarus. Not that you could tell unless you were looking at a clock, which All for One did not possess. Had he been younger, he may have grown antsy after spending so much time strapped in this chair, completely immobilized. Centuries of life had given him a rare patience few other beings could ever possess.

He wasn't sleeping at the moment, but with how dormant his brain waves were to the scanners his guards were no doubt monitoring, he may as well have been. It was a meditation technique of sorts he'd picked up during his travels as a younger man, collecting Quirks to establish his position. An old monk had told him how to do this, not that he'd understood whilst he was there. He hadn't been interested in it then, but over the years, he found meditation was an excellent way to pass time—especially after he was crippled by All Might.

An impressive memory was a welcome addition from his Quirk. He could remember the monk's words easily, as though he was hearing them in his ear that very moment. All he had to do was breathe and let himself slowly drift off into a state of peace. He could not achieve this with impatience or seek it out. He simply had to be.

So he did this. It was soothing, that state of peace, of just…being. Even if he was "being" in a maximum security prison.

He felt a faint rustle at the edge of his mind, but did not move. Barely even reacted with his thoughts. Telepathy Quirks were easy to track on the sensors, after all. Fortunately, this wasn't exactly telepathy, nor was it a truly "active" Quirk. The monitors couldn't differentiate this link buried under his other brain waves, nor would it set off any alarms with how utterly minor it was. It wasn't even really a communication channel for him. It was simply there, just as he was.

He recognized this particular touch and felt a pulse of amusement, perhaps even fondness. Izuku was dreaming, it seemed…

* * *

Katsuki rubbed the sleep from his eyes as the elevator descended to the lobby, his mouth set in a lazy scowl. He hadn't slept particularly well, even with T'Challa curled up on the pillow by his head. He'd finally gotten tired last night and taken the kitten from Momo before retreating to his room, much to T'Challa's displeasure and Momo's amusement. Now he was bringing the irritable kitten downstairs to get both of them breakfast.

T'Challa was bundled up in one of his arms, his tiny face stuffed into Katsuki's shirt. He mewled in annoyance when the elevator dinged, signaling their stop, but Katsuki ignored it and stepped out into the lobby. He repressed a shiver as his bare feet made contact with the cold tile, walking over to the kitchen.

Momo, Kyoka, Rikido, and Shoto were already up and eating breakfast. Katsuki grunted to them as he made his way to the pantry and retrieved T'Challa's bowl and formula so the kitten could eat. T'Challa growled when he set the tiny ball of fluff on the floor, but quieted when he realized that food was available and began to lap at the formula.

Grunting in satisfaction, Katsuki went to the fridge and opened it up, scanning the contents for something to make breakfast out of. He wasn't in the mood to cook.

Momo called to him from one of the tables. She hadn't bothered to tie her hair up yet, early as it was. "Good morning."

"Uh-huh," Katsuki muttered, snatching frozen waffles out of the freezer and stuffing two of them into a toaster on the counter. He went to the pantry to grab peanut-butter and a coffee pod. Screw it, straight black. He needed something to kick him awake.

Shoto paused with a spoonful of cereal as he regarded the ill-tempered teenager. "Did you not sleep well?"

"Shut up," he snapped back, impatiently glaring at the coffee maker as it heated up some water. "No talking. I need coffee before I deal with any bullshit."

Kyoka rolled her eyes around a mouthful of toast, unimpressed by his foul mouth while the rest of the students found it more amusing than anything and returned to their breakfast. A few minutes passed in silence as Katsuki got his peanut-butter waffles ready and the others ate at a content pace.

The elevator dinged and Ochako walked out, looking just as tired as the rest of them, but as soon as she spotted Katsuki she blinked and hurried over to him right as he sat down at the table beside Rikido. "Katsuki?"

"What is it, Round-face?" He grumbled, sipping at the hot, bitter coffee.

"I, uh…I need your help with something."

Katsuki's eyes shifted over to her and a spark of annoyance glinted in the crimson orbs. "Unless it's your early funeral, let me drink in peace. Shoo."

"It's…" Ochako bit her lip, looking nervous and frustrated. She leaned down a bit to mutter quietly so only he would hear. "It's Deku."

Katsuki paused mid-drink and his brow furrowed. "…go on."

"He's upstairs," she told him, glancing at the others, who were watching them curiously. "Just—can you come with me for a moment? I don't know what to do."

Katsuki thought about it for a few seconds before growling and standing up, taking a long draught of his coffee before snapping his fingers towards the elevator. "Fine, hurry up. Get your ass moving."

Ochako nodded and hurried to the elevator while he set his cup on the table with a little more force than was necessary, glaring at the other students still residing there. "Touch my food and you die."

"I'll keep an eye on it," Momo promised from over her fancy breakfast tray of fruits, though her face was creased into a frown. "Is everything okay?"

"Who knows?" He grumbled, following Ochako to the elevator and leaning against the wall as she pressed the button that would take them to her floor.

As soon as the doors closed, he cast a glare on her. "So what the hell is this about?"

"Eri had a night terror last night," Ochako told him, looking worried. Katsuki's irritation drained in an instant, along with most of the blood in his face. "Deku brought her down to clean her in the showers at three in the morning—I think she messed his bed because she was so scared. I was asleep on the couch in the lobby and woke up when he came down, so once he was done cleaning Eri, I let them stay in my room. I don't know what else I should do. Eri was terrified and Deku…he's so _tired_. He slept like a rock and he's still got dark bags under his eyes. What happened yesterday after the test? I haven't seen him like that since…"

She trailed off and Katsuki knew her thoughts had probably trailed back to the hospital after the Kamino Ward incident. He pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally cursed anything and everything that immediately came to mind.

"Katsuki?" Ochako said, uncertain.

"Let me see them," he replied, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his head fall back against the elevator wall. "I'll figure something out."

She nodded as the doors opened to her floor and led him to her room. Quietly, she opened the door and they peered inside.

Izuku was still sleeping hard on Ochako's bed, dead to the world and curled around Eri's small body. The little girl was buried in her guardian's embrace, calm for the time being.

Katsuki walked into the room with Ochako behind him and cast his eyes over the pair, wincing at what he found. Both Izuku and Eri looked to have slept poorly, though Izuku had obviously suffered far more from the lack of sleep. The skin under his eyes was dark and his face was pale and sickly.

Ochako bit her lip and murmured quietly. "I don't think they've moved since they fell asleep. Even when I got up, they didn't so much as twitch."

Katsuki sighed quietly and reached down to carefully brush aside a strand of hair out of Eri's face. The child didn't respond at all, still sound asleep. He considered it all before holding his forehead with one of his hands.

"I'll go ahead and take Eri downstairs," he decided quietly. "You…just let him sleep a bit longer."

"Do you need help with her?" She asked.

"I can handle it," he refused, finding Eri's backpack on the floor and picking it up. Izuku had left his room key in one of the pockets, which he retrieved quickly and gave to Ochako. "I'll take her to my room to get changed and then bring her down for breakfast. Give Deku like another hour or two, then wake him up and send him to his room. He probably needs to change his sheets."

Ochako nodded, her gaze falling back to the sleeping duo on her bed. She looked at the Eri sadly. "I didn't know she had night terrors."

"Mm," Katsuki managed, not really willing to reply. Deep in his stomach, that familiar rage was burning and he wished he could decimate whatever drove Eri to such fits of terror, but he forced it down for now. He didn't need the fury at this moment. Later. Later, when…

He shook that thought off. He had to get Eri taken care of now.

Carefully, he lifted Izuku's arms and pulled Eri free of the other teenager. Eri frowned and stirred as she was taken away from her guardian's warmth, eyes flickering open. Her little hands clenched onto Izuku's shirt. "No…"

"Shh," Katsuki hushed her, gently prying her hands from Izuku's clothing. "It's me, Eri. Come here."

Eri relinquished her hold on Izuku reluctantly as she recognized Katsuki and allowed him to shift her into his arms. He propped her up on his left side and waited until she was curled into his body before nodding at Ochako and leaving the room.

The little girl had closed her eyes again and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Why can't I stay with Izu?"

"Deku's tired, Eri," Katsuki told her quietly. "He needs to sleep a bit longer. Let's get you some breakfast, okay?"

"Okay," she sighed tiredly. Katsuki planted a quick kiss on her forehead as they stepped into the elevator, knowing full well his day was only just starting.

* * *

Ochako quietly closed the door behind Katsuki and locked it, then turned back to Izuku to look at the sleeping boy with pursed lips. She was still pretty tired herself, so maybe she could steal a couple more hours of sleep as well. The only issue was now she was awake enough to put more thought into sharing the bed with Izuku—a thought that was as enticing as it was embarrassing.

While she was mentally debating to herself whether or not to slip under the covers with him again, Izuku stirred and his eyes slid open, blinking at nothing in a tired daze. When his vision focused at last, he found himself looking up at the pensive girl standing by the bed. "Ochako?"

She jumped and glanced down at him in surprise, but offered a little smile. "Deku, hi. How do you feel?"

"Mmm…tired," he sighed. Izuku frowned slightly and looked around the room for his charge, who was now missing. He became more conscious as his concern grew more pronounced. "Where's Eri?"

"Katsuki came up and took her down for breakfast," she told him. "He said you needed to sleep a bit longer."

"He didn't have to do that," Izuku groaned, shifting to sit up. He was stopped by two soft, but firm hands pushing his shoulders back down onto the bed.

Ochako gave him a stern look. "Oh, no you don't. I think you need to sleep longer, too. You look like a zombie, Deku."

Izuku frowned. "I'm fine."

"You are _not_ fine," she insisted, her face twisting into a pout. "Don't argue with me on this one, okay? Just go back to sleep. You really need it."

The boy shifted, aware of how comfortable Ochako's bed was. Being semi-delirious, the idea of sleeping there didn't bother him much. He knew he was completely exhausted…maybe a little extra rest wouldn't hurt…

His thoughts came to an end as Ochako sat down on the floor beside the bed and reached out to grasp his scarred hand. For a moment, he thought she was going to start playing like they had a few times before, but instead she intertwined their fingers and let her thumb stroke the rough skin. The sensation sent a tiny shiver along his spine, as well as a wave of calm and contentment.

"Go back to sleep," she whispered, voice soft with just a bit of nervousness. "I'll wake you up later, okay?"

Ochako felt a lump rise in her throat at the sight of deep green eyes going heavy with that sweet sort of sleepiness. The more she gently massaged his hand, the deeper he fell into a trance until his eyelids finally slid close. She could practically _feel_ the moment his body finally went slack, releasing some of the pent-up stress.

She lay her head down on the bed, tucking her free arm under her cheek so she could relax a little more easily. Her thumb continued to lazily stroke the warm, scarred skin of Izuku's hand as her gaze trailed from the boy's disfigured arm to his sleeping face. The dark bags under his eyes showed just how exhausted he really was and her heart went out to him.

 _He's so tired,_ she thought to herself absently. Her own eyes grew heavy as his natural body heat slowly flowed over her, bringing with it a lull that drew her into a fitful sleep. And before long, both teenagers were deep in their dream worlds, lost to the warmth and softness of the moment.

* * *

A few hours after bringing Eri down from Ochako's room, Katsuki had gotten both her and himself ready for the day. Currently, she was sitting on his lap watching a program about animals on the television (which Katsuki had confiscated for her entertainment, much to Denki's upset) while he stared at the screen absently and thought about his current predicament.

His current predicament being what to do regarding one Himiko Toga.

Izuku wasn't going to take no for an answer and he knew it. His partner in crime might've shy and easy to spook at times, but Katsuki knew firsthand that he would not stop trying to save someone if he thought there was a chance. Even if it was reckless, Izuku would go back to Himiko and do whatever he could do save her.

Katsuki would admit the girl hadn't been exactly what he'd expected, but he also knew to go back to that apartment would mean putting Izuku in the League's hands. That was something he absolutely would not tolerate, especially with Kurogiri lurking. He wasn't gonna let his best friend go back there without some kind of protection.

He knew the best way to do that would be to get in touch with All Might or another teacher and tell them what was going on. Izuku would be furious with him for that, but Katsuki didn't give a damn if the nerd got pissed off as long as he was safe.

His thoughts took pause as he caught sight of someone moving at the edge of his vision. Katsuki turned his head and blinked when he saw Momo walking over with a tray of tea cups in hand. She offered them a smile. "Would you like something to drink?"

Katsuki nodded and reached out to accept one cup while Momo carefully handed another to Eri. Both of the cups were still steaming and he had to tap Eri's horn to regain her attention. "Blow on it for a minute, or you'll scald your tongue."

Eri did as she was told, blowing at the hot tea and sending wisps of steam in the opposite direction. Katsuki watched her in amusement as Momo took a seat next to them, placing the tray on the table in front of them and retrieving her own tea cup.

Shoto came over to join them and sat on the opposite couch, scrolling along his phone absently. Katsuki cast a lazy glare in his direction for a moment, but he wasn't in the mood to pick a fight with icy-hot. Maybe later.

"Would you like some tea, Shoto?" Momo asked politely.

The other teen looked up and eyed the tray of tea for a few moments before shaking his head. "No thanks. I appreciate the offer, though."

"Let me know if you change your mind," she told him. Shoto hummed and returned to his phone while the girl shifted her eyes to Katsuki. "If you don't mind my asking, what was that with Ochako earlier?"

Katsuki grimaced. "She just wanted to tell me that Deku and Eri had a rough night."

"I see," Momo gave Eri a sympathetic smile. "Are you feeling better, now?"

Eri nodded shyly, her cheeks going rosy when Momo's smile grew a little. "I'm happy to hear that."

Katsuki observed the interaction with some amusement and took the moment to sip at his tea. It was sweet and warm, with a hint of honey. He wasn't a huge fan of sugar, but this wasn't bad. Not bad at all.

"Katsuki?" He paused in his drink and glanced at Momo, who was fidgeting somewhat in her seat. "I was, ah…I was wondering perhaps if you would be willing to help me with something later."

His eyebrow quirked up and he swallowed his drink before turning to look at her fully. His lips twisted in a small smirk. "So this is a bribe, is it?"

He held up the tea cup and Momo's eyes widened. "Ah-no, no, nothing like that! That was just—I just thought you might be thirsty! It was simply an act of—"

"Chill out, Ponytail, I'm pulling your leg," he grinned, amused by her floundering. She puffed up her cheek in a pout when she realized he was just messing with her and his smirk grew. "What's up?"

"Ahem…" She cleared her throat in an attempt to compose herself and looked at him steadily. "I was wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to help me practice my combat skills when we can find the time."

Katsuki stared at her in surprise and even Shoto looked up from his phone with a brow raised. Momo fidgeted in her seat from under their gazes, flushing a bit. "Wh-what?"

"I'm just…confused," Katsuki replied, his brow furrowing.

"How so?"

"My favorite kind of combat focuses on high mobility and aggression," he pointed out. "I like to get on top of my enemies before they even know what's happening and beat them senseless. It helps that my Quirk gets stronger the longer I fight, since that makes me sweat more. You're the total opposite of me, Ponytail. You're more comfortable getting situated in a single position at a safe distance, and a prolonged fight is the last thing you want. From a compatibility standpoint, I'm the worst sort of sparring partner you could ask for to improve your strengths."

"You are correct," she agreed with his assessment. "That's why I wanted to request your assistance in improving my skills. Though I would prefer to tell you more about my thoughts in private, if that's acceptable. I have some ideas I'd like your input on."

Katsuki watched her in silence for a few more moments, his curiosity burning. He'd said it before and he stood by that statement—Momo was one of the best students at U.A. She was damned _smart_ and he knew it. She wasn't one to just suggest an idea like this for shits and giggles. There was something cooking in that brain of hers and he wanted to know what it was.

He let his interest get the better of him and caved without questioning her further. "That's fine, I guess. What time?"

"Perhaps later this afternoon at the gym? I'd like to work on a few simple ideas with you first."

Katsuki thought about it and shrugged. "Sure. Just let me know in advance when you want to go."

Momo's smile returned and grew bright. "Excellent. I look forward to it!"

The blonde teen snorted at her enthusiasm and returned to his drink, sipping at the tea while Momo started to hum.

The front door opened up and the kids all looked away from the television to the entrance. Katsuki felt himself mentally pause as Toshinori walked in and looked around before finding the explosive teen and meeting his gaze. The man's face was somewhat grim.

Good feelings gone.

"Is young Izuku awake yet?"

Katsuki shook his head. "No. He didn't sleep that well last night, so I made him take a few more hours upstairs. Round-face is keeping an eye on him."

Toshinori grimaced apologetically. "Would you mind going to get him? We have to talk. Preferably sooner than later."

Katsuki turned away and let out a long breath. This conversation needed to happen, even if he really, really didn't want to deal with it right now. With another sigh, he carefully lifted up Eri so he could stand, then deposited the girl back on the couch. She looked at him with wide eyes.

He knelt in front of her and took both of her hands. "Deku and I have gotta go talk with Mr. All Might, Eri. You're gonna have to stay here until we finish. It shouldn't take too long."

Eri looked nervous, but fortunately, Momo was there. The teenage girl scooted a little closer to Eri and gently set a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'll stay with her until you get back. Does that sound good, Eri?"

The little girl nodded shyly, averting her eyes from Momo. The older girl looked at Katsuki and smiled. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her."

"Thanks," he replied, then stood up and made his way to the elevator. He cast a glance at Toshinori on his way there. "I'll be back down in a minute. We have some stuff to tell you, too."

Toshinori raised an eyebrow, but nodded.

* * *

Izuku was dozing in that semi-conscious state one felt when they were just stirring in the mornings. Everything was pleasantly fuzzy, and his hand was holding something soft and warm.

He felt whatever he was holding squeeze his hand, so he absently squeezed back in response. He was certain he was still asleep. This was way too comfortable and nice to be anything but a good dream.

Izuku was holding someone's hand, and they were holding his, and he felt happy and sleepy and warm.

As he gradually woke up, however, his brain insisted on finding out exactly what was going on. Izuku frowned with his eyes still closed, as he realized that he was, in fact, _actually_ holding someone's hand.

"Deku?"

He was wide awake in an instant, because that was definitely Ochako's voice whispering to him, low and throaty and rough from sleep and _oh dear gods_.

"Y-yes?" He gulped out. He didn't dare move, fearful of doing something, anything, that might offend her or make her uncomfortable. Izuku slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking at Ochako from just an arm's length away. She was leaning over the side of her bed from where she sat on the floor, still holding his hand. Her eyes looked heavy and tired as she blinked at him slowly, like a lazy cat.

"Did you sleep good?"

"Y-yeah," he managed.

"I'm glad," her lips twitched up in a sleepy kind of smile. Her cheek was smushed against her own arm and Izuku felt his heart stutter at the sight. "You needed it. You were really tired."

 _Oh no,_ she was too fucking cute. He couldn't handle it. Izuku felt his body heat up faster than should have been possible and the sudden flush of warmth had Ochako waking up a little bit more as well. He opened his mouth automatically, probably to say some kind of gibberish that made absolutely no sense whatsoever—

A sudden knock on the door woke them both up completely and escalated the tension a hundredfold. "Hey, Round-face! Wake Deku up!"

The eyes of both teenagers widened comically and then Ochako was slapping her hands over her blazing face, muffling a squeak of panic whilst simultaneously making herself float into the air. Izuku launched himself away from her at the same time and slammed the back of his head into the wall with a yelp. Tears filled his vision and he curled up into a ball to roll around, his feet kicking from the pain until he inevitably fell off the side of the bed with another loud thud.

"The fuck are you two doing in there?"

Izuku managed to scramble to his feet and half-tripped, half-bolted for the door to unlock and open it up. Katsuki blinked at his friend's bright crimson face, his teary eyes, and the sight of Ochako bumping against the ceiling in her zero-gravity enhanced panic.

"I-I'M AWAKE!" Izuku screamed.

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at the high-pitched voice and let his eyes dart from Izuku to Ochako and back again. He especially took notice of the fact that they were both blushing furiously and the gleeful smirk that crossed his face had Izuku wishing for death.

"Well, I _hate_ to break up the party," he snickered in a sing-song voice that let the flustered teens know he was not sorry in any way, shape, or form. "But it's about time you two got out of bed."

Izuku's face helplessly ignited in green flames and Ochako let out a muffled scream through her hands, slapping her burning cheeks once again. Unfortunately, this canceled out her zero-gravity effects and she plummeted from the ceiling with a panicked squeal. Fortunately, she landed on her bed and was quick to scramble under the blankets to hide herself while Izuku began to incoherently babble meaningless gibberish.

This was too easy, Katsuki thought as he hugged his stomach and roared with laughter.

* * *

A short while later, (when Izuku had managed to flee to his room to get changed and Katsuki regained enough oxygen for his lungs to work) the two of them were led by All Might to the main school building. Izuku hadn't been able to escape the teasing looks from his best friend, nor had the red staining his cheeks dissipated, much to his embarrassment.

He tried to disguise it as anger towards Katsuki, but to no avail.

"You scared the crap out of us," Izuku muttered lowly, avoiding his friend's gaze. He scowled as the other teen tried and failed to contain his laughter. "It's not funny! She might not ever talk with me again after this!"

"Oh, please," Katsuki snorted. He threw an arm over Izuku's shoulder and grinned devilishly. "You're exaggerating. It wasn't _that_ bad."

 _"She was floating around the room!"_

"And you were burning up like steamed broccoli. It was _fucking_ _hysterical."_

Izuku opened his mouth to find a retort, but he was too frazzled to think straight and just pouted, refusing to look at Katsuki. "I hate you."

"I know," he chuckled, lightly shoving his friend to give him some space. This was blackmail for eternity, but he knew better than to beat a dead horse. Katsuki would let it stew for a bit before he brought it up again.

He had plenty of time to come up with new ways to tease his best friend during that time, he thought with a smug grin.

Toshinori made the call to not question what was going on between them. Inko had sent him a message the night before asking to keep an eye on the boys—they were hiding something that had driven them to a serious argument, but this didn't appear to be related to that particular topic.

Maybe he could convince them to tell him what was going on after this meeting, but right now they had something more serious to discuss.

He took them to his office and awaiting them was Detective Tsukauchi, who had been getting some tea heated up while he was waiting for Toshinori to bring the boys over. Upon arriving there, Toshinori locked the door and sat everyone down at the coffee table. He sat beside Tsukauchi while Izuku took a seat next to Katsuki across from them.

There was a long silence as Tsukauchi poured the tea and gave each of them a cup to drink from. As they waited for the hot liquid to cool off enough to drink, Toshinori clasped his hands in front of him and looked at the two boys steadily.

"So," he began simply. "We have a few matters to discuss."

"First of all, I wanted to express my congratulations to the two of you," Tsukauchi said, offering the two boys a smile. "I heard from Toshinori that you passed your Provisional License Exams. That you've managed to do so in your first year of hero training speaks volumes."

"Thank you," Izuku dipped his head gratefully, smiling somewhat. Katsuki only grunted in acknowledgement and took another drink.

Tsukauchi's smile faded somewhat. "I wish I could say we had called you boys here just for pleasantries, but unfortunately that's not the case. Yesterday, Toshinori and I visited the maximum security prison, Tartarus, so he could speak to All for One."

Izuku tensed and Katsuki's eyes flitted up from his drink to the detective, his gaze narrowing. Toshinori grimaced with them. "I felt about the same when I visited him, but it was necessary. He's been less than willing to tell his jailers anything of value regarding the League of Villains or what other allies of his might be in on his plans."

"But he told _you_ something, didn't he?" Katsuki queried. "You wouldn't have called us out here just to tell us that, right?"

"I wish," Toshinori muttered. "That scum is still giving me a headache even in prison. He only talked to me about a few things. Mostly about you, Izuku."

The teenager swallowed, but kept himself steady. "What about?"

"For starters, it would seem that Hisashi was the only one of his Chimera that All for One adopted," Toshinori said, grimacing more "He was keen to remind me beyond any doubt that you're his grandson, if not from a completely genetic standpoint than a legal one. That's besides the point, but it means that tracking down his other Chimera is going to be impossible if we ever find out which identity All for One used to adopt Hisashi.

Secondly, he was quite insistent that we allow you to interact with Himiko Toga," he continued. Both boys stiffened at this, but he went on regardless. "All for One more or less claimed responsibility as the one who kidnapped her as a child, but he also made it sound like she'd been trained enough to be a serious threat if her condition ever becomes too unstable."

Izuku's face had paled, but it suddenly darkened with anger. "What did he do to her?"

"He didn't say, but I'm sure it wasn't anything good," Tsukauchi interjected, his face grim. "Oddly enough, though, he claimed that if we were to allow you to meet with her, you wouldn't have to worry about being taken by the League. Apparently, Kurogiri has some orders from him to keep you out of Tomura Shigaraki's clutches until "the time is right" or something along those lines."

"I don't buy that for a second," Katsuki snarled.

"Neither do I," Toshinori agreed. "But he was kind enough to inform us that if Himiko's condition worsens, she'll likely go on a full-blown killing spree."

The blonde teenager's eyes narrowed. "And All for One doesn't want that to happen…why? Sounds like something he would get behind."

"Frankly, I'm pretty sure he couldn't care less if it were to happen or not, but All for One suggested that certain people—likely other villains who are enemies of his—would notice Himiko's rampage and cause the League some problems, not to mention us."

Izuku pursed his lips. "What should we do about it?"

Tsukauchi clasped his hands in front of him. "We're not quite sure. Even if Himiko is a threat right now, that's probably more of a reason to keep you away from her. Not to mention Kurogiri's presence wherever they're keeping her might be a trap to take you to the League regardless of what All for One told us. That being said, we'll have to start actively searching for her if she's truly as dangerous as he suggested. We can't have her waiting to snap like a ticking time bomb."

Izuku shot Katsuki a glance and the two of them stared at one another for several moments in complete silence. Katsuki inclined his head towards the adults slightly and his friend hesitated for a few more seconds before slowly nodding.

Toshinori noticed the exchange and waited for them to speak. Izuku took a deep breath and looked down at his hands, which were gripping the fabric of his pants tightly. "About Himiko…Katsuki and I already met with her."

That was _not_ what he was expecting at all.

Toshinori hacked up blood in his shock and his eyes grew wide. _"You what?!"_

"She posed as one of the Shiketsu High students yesterday and snuck into the exam site," Katsuki told them, scowling. "She found Deku there and confronted him about her whole situation, and he told me. We went to go check it out together—I didn't want him near those guys alone. That foggy bastard was there, but he didn't try to spring any kind of trap."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Tsukauchi asked, shocked. "Or one of the teachers? If you suspected it was a trap—"

"Kurogiri was there, he could've warped Himiko away if we tried that and she'd never trust me again," Izuku protested. "I didn't want to risk her snapping. She was really unstable when she fought me at the exam site and if she'd gone on much longer without blood—"

"Did you even _think_ about all the ways that could have gone wrong?!" Toshinori demanded, his voice rising in an uncharacteristic display of anger. "Did you forget already that you were almost _killed_ the last time the League took you!? Did you not even _consider_ how your _family_ might feel if you were taken _again?!"_

"What was I supposed to do?!" Izuku snapped back. He was still frayed emotionally and Toshinori's sudden anger wasn't helping him. "She _trusts_ me! I was the only one in any position to do anything to help her! Should I have just waited for her to snap and start killing people?! She's already got enough of a guilty conscience without that!"

"You could have told us where they were and we would've sent in a team of heroes to capture her. I thought we talked about this already, she needs professional medical help, Izuku!"

"And what if she got away? If they failed, she would've been warped away and she would've known that I betrayed her. And even if they succeeded, she'd never trust me again! She wouldn't trust anyone after that! I'd be making things worse for her! Why would she even _want_ to get better if I took away her only reason to even consider doing so?"

Tsukauchi held his hands up between the two of them. "Both of you take a breath and calm down. Yelling isn't going to help anything now. We need to think clearly."

Both of them did as he said, leaning back into their seats and taking deep, shaky breaths, but refusing to look at one another. Katsuki's eyes were wide as he regarded his best friend and his hero. He'd never known them to get angry like this with each other, or even mildly upset for that matter. The sight of them yelling had sent him into speechlessness.

Tsukauchi appeared to be just as stunned, but he cleared his throat as they steadily calmed down. "Let's take a moment to consider the situation. It's happened; arguing isn't going to change that now. We need to think about our next move. Katsuki, when you and Izuku arrived at the hiding place, who was present?"

Katsuki jerked out of his brief stupor to look at the detective. "Only Kurogiri and Himiko. I checked the apartment out pretty thoroughly, and it looks like it's really just Himiko living there. I guess Kurogiri is warping back and forth between her and the League."

"Did you feel in danger at all while you were there?"

"I'd have to be an idiot to not feel like we were in danger around those guys," he scoffed, but frowned thoughtfully. "But I get what you're asking. Himiko was definitely dangerous to be around before Deku calmed her down, but Kurogiri wasn't acting hostile at all. It's not like he couldn't have made a move on our way in, either. I think if he really wanted to capture us, he probably could've transported us straight to Shigaraki. And he did say kinda the same thing you did—he was under orders from All for One to keep Deku away from the League."

Katsuki paused for a moment. "Also, it sounds like Himiko tried to stab Heat Viper after the Kamino Ward Incident."

Toshinori's head snapped towards him in an instant. "She _what?!"_

"She tried to stab him," Katsuki repeated, scowling a bit. "Doesn't seem like she did much, though. Kurogiri said they were both in shock after Deku went down during the fight and Himiko tried to stab Viper for it. I guess she missed or screwed up, because he torched her arm pretty good. She's got a nasty burn scar on her right arm."

Tsukauchi chewed on his lip, thoughts racing. "If nothing else, we can at least confirm that Himiko is definitely separated from the rest of the League right now, with the exception of Kurogiri. And how did things go with Himiko?"

Katsuki grimaced and went on to explain what had happened with the blonde girl when he and Izuku had arrived at the apartment. At the end of that particular report, Toshinori's hands were squeezing the fabric of his pants tightly and the boys were wary that he might lose his cool again.

Fortunately, Tsukauchi was still there as the voice of reason. "So Himiko responded positively in the end…That's a good sign."

"You call hacking up a bunch of blood a good sign?" Katsuki raised his brow and glanced at Toshinori. "No offense."

"None taken," the man responded.

"Well, that's more problematic, but we know for sure now that she calms down and responds to this…treatment," Tsukauchi finished, drumming his fingers on the table. "That being said, we can't let Izuku go back there just so he can get shredded over and over again."

Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but Tsukauchi lifted a hand up to stop him. "Never mind the fact that it's certainly not good for your health, I'm sure there are other methods we can try to reduce how much pain this puts you through, if not outright bring it to zero. However, before we even consider continuing these…meetings long-term, we'll have to establish a few rules.

First of all, I will be going next time with you to confirm things are as safe as you believe. Second, should I conclude that these meetings are not safe, I will stop you from continuing them. Third, in the event that I decide this is too dangerous for us to progress this way, I will be sending in a team of heroes to capture Himiko so she can receive professional medical help. And finally, if you should refuse to cooperate and warn Himiko should the decision be made to capture her, I will see to it that you're expelled from U.A."

Izuku froze as Tsukauchi fixed him with a stern look. "Legally, you and Katsuki were allowed to do what you did under the premise of 'helping a civilian in need' since you two earned your Provisional Licenses, but that's still splitting hairs. This is a difficult situation involving the League of Villains and there's almost no room for negotiation. You will respect my decision regardless of the outcome or you won't be able to continue your hero studies. Am I understood?"

The boy swallowed and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"I'm not doing this to be cruel," the detective told him, his face still serious. "If things were different, I'd be more than willing to help Himiko, but the fact of the matter is, she's been involved with the League. You can't pick and choose when it suits you, Izuku. If we do this, we do it right, or we don't do it at all. Are we clear on that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good," Tsukauchi nodded, satisfied. "I'm going to give you my phone number and you'll tell me as soon as Himiko gets in contact with you. You'll inform me when she wants to meet again and we will go together to assess this. No more secrets."

He paused for a moment and then sighed. "And continuing that particular line of thought, we have one more thing to tell you about our meeting with All for One: He requested that Izuku come to Tartarus to speak with him in person."

The blood drained from Izuku's face and Katsuki's scowl returned tenfold. The blonde snarled. "For _what?_ What does that psychopath want from him now?!"

"He claimed it was just so he could speak with Izuku about some important matters, but I suspect there's more to it than that," Toshinori grunted. "I wanted to outright refuse."

"Why didn't you?" Izuku asked nervously.

"Because as much as he dislikes it," Tsukauchi shot his irritated friend a somewhat amused look. "In the end, it's technically Izuku's decision. Tartarus allows infrequent family visits should the family wish to see their relatives—though few ever do. Since you're All for One's legal grandson, you have the right to request a meeting with him. That being said, you're in no way obligated to do so, regardless of his wishes. No one would blame you for refusing to see him."

Izuku bit his lip. He really didn't want to see that man again. All for One was a monster.

"…But there's a chance he might tell me something important, isn't there?" Izuku brought the unspoken question to life. Nobody looked overly thrilled about him voicing it, but there was an undercurrent of reluctant agreement.

"He's been uncooperative with the guards when it comes to information," Tsukauchi admitted. "Even with All Might, he was keeping a lot to himself. He seemed to view the meeting as a game more so than anything. It's possible he may tell you something of value, but there's just as equal a chance that he's only suggesting a meeting so that he can shake you psychologically. Even imprisoned, All for One is still dangerous, Izuku. You are not required to meet with him, regardless of what information he may have to offer you. It would be a trying meeting to say the least."

Izuku was quiet for another minute as he considered that before eventually shaking his head. "I want to think about it first. Is that ok?"

"It's your decision," Tsukauchi confirmed without a doubt. "Whatever you decide, just call me to let me know, but there's no rush. All for One isn't going anywhere."

They all fell silent for a few moments before the detective spoke again. "I think we've all had enough of this topic for today. Izuku, let me get your number and then you boys can go back to the dorms."

Izuku nodded and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone, his mind still rampant with all of the information he'd learned.

* * *

On their way back to the dorms, the boys were mostly silent, lost in their thoughts. Eventually, however, it was Katsuki who broke the quiet spell.

"What are you gonna do for the rest of the day?"

Izuku shrugged. "Probably spend time with Eri. I need to think about everything, but she needs a fun day after all that happened last night."

Katsuki grunted in agreement. "I'll join you guys. For a while, anyways. Ponytail wanted to do some sparring at the gym later."

"Momo wants to spar with you?" Izuku asked, surprised. It wasn't like he doubted her capabilities at all, but he hadn't expected the class Vice-President to go out of her way to fight with Katsuki, even if it was for practice.

"Yeah. She said she had some ideas for her Quirk, and I gotta admit I'm kind of curious," he admitted.

Izuku was curious, too. He'd have to ask Katsuki how that particular sparring session went later. Thinking about it though, he wanted to do some more work on his own Quirk and hero costume. He'd had a few ideas after participating in the Provisional License Exam the day before…

As they arrived at the dorms, Katsuki shoved the door open and growled lazily. "Oi, we're back. Where's the kid?"

Eijirou waved at them with a wide grin on his face. "Welcome back! Momo's still got her. They went up to her room a bit ago."

Katsuki grunted and pulled out his phone, muttering to Izuku. "I'll text her that we're back and have her bring Eri downstairs."

Izuku nodded and opened his mouth to speak when the elevator dinged and the doors parted. His attention was garnered to see who would emerge, but his whole body went stiff as a board when he spotted Ochako standing in the elevator.

The two of them stared at each other for a grand total of five seconds before Ochako was mashing on the elevator buttons with a furious blush on her face, forcing the doors to close and take her back upstairs.

Katsuki snorted in amusement while the rest of the teenagers looked at the elevator with confused expressions. Rikido voiced their thoughts. "What's up with her?"

"Maybe she was feeling sick?" Shoto suggested.

Izuku wisely didn't comment and ignored the way Katsuki was shooting him a look of complete and utter glee. Fortunately, the blonde teen's phone vibrated at that moment and he glanced down to read the message he'd been sent.

"Ponytail's bringing Eri down."

"Thanks," Izuku murmured, hoping that his cheeks weren't too red. The memory of waking up in Ochako's bed, _holding Ochako's hand_ was not doing his heart any favors, either.

His scrambled brain took the opportunity to remind him that this was, technically, the second time he'd woken up with a girl he may or may not have had a crush on. He felt his temperature rise a bit more. Desperately, Izuku tried to look for a bright side that might curb his embarrassment.

At least Ochako had been wearing actual clothing?

…Nope, _nope,_ **_nope._** Izuku covered his face and let out a muffled whine into his hands. Now he was feeling _far_ too hot as that train of thought took his mind into places he was not willing to go to, teenage hormones be damned.

"Hey, Izuku! Your horns are showing!" Hanta exclaimed from the couch.

Izuku froze and realized that yes, he was on fire, even though it was just the two locks of hair forming his fiery horns. He couldn't see them, but they were spiked up like a pair of alert rabbit ears.

Katsuki was outright sniggering at this point and Izuku quickly forced his flames to dissipate, fighting off the urge to curl up into a ball and hope a black hole might suck him into oblivion.

Shoto's attention had turned from the elevator to Izuku. He blinked at the other teen curiously. "Are you feeling sick, too?"

"N-no! I'm f-fine!" Izuku stammered, fanning his face.

"Izuku! Your face is too red!" Tenya exclaimed, chopping his hand in the boy's direction. "If you are feeling faint, you should sit down and have something to drink! Staying hydrated is important if you are sick!"

"I'm not—" Izuku bit off the protest and just moved quickly to the kitchen. "Drink sounds good."

Minoru was giving him a suspicious look that Izuku did _not_ like in any way, shape, or form. Oh god, he was becoming a pervert, wasn't he?

Fortunately for Izuku, whichever gods had been tormenting him for their own amusement threw the boy a lifeline in the form of the elevator dinging. As he filled up a glass of water, he turned his head back to the doors and prayed it wasn't Ochako, because he might actually pass out if he saw her again while he was so freaked out.

The first thing he saw was Momo, looking quite pleased with herself for some reason. Izuku's gaze fell to the second person in the elevator and he almost dropped the glass of water.

All hormonal teenage thoughts left his head in an instant as he set eyes on what was the cutest, most innocent sight he'd ever witnessed.

Eri stood there, holding Momo's shirt sleeve with her fingers. She was wearing a dark green kigurumi that was modeled after his hero costume, but with features from Katsuki's costume as well. There was a pair of Katsuki's boots printed covering her feet and a utility belt similarly printed around the kigurumi's middle, right at Eri's waist. Izuku's "bunny ears" were featured as a part of the hoodie, and at the wrists were fluffy pillows in replication of Katsuki's grenade gauntlets.

Eri spotted him and smiled, and the sight of the little girl's happy face combined with that _adorable_ outfit made Izuku fear for the health of his heart.

"Izu!" She exclaimed, running over to him. He scooped the girl up with a practiced move and propped her on his hip, unable to resist smiling himself.

"Hey there, Eri," Izuku replied, looking over the kigurumi she wore with an amazed expression. "Where did you get this?"

"Momo made it for me!" Eri squeaked happily, throwing her pillowed arms around his neck so she could hug him. "Do you like it?"

"I love it," he told her honestly. "Did you thank her?"

"Mmhm!"

Izuku looked over at Momo and only now realized that they had the attention of the entire room, but he tried to focus on the teenage girl stepping out of the elevator. She was watching them with an amused expression.

"She seemed a little uneasy after you two left, so I decided to make her something to comfort her," Momo explained.

"It's amazing, Momo," Izuku told her, to which she beamed. "Thank you for this."

"It's _adorable!"_ Mina was leaning back against the couch armrest and suddenly clutched at her chest, falling back onto the cushions (as well as Toru and Tsuyu's laps) with a dramatic cry. "I can't handle it!"

"Oof!" Toru wheezed as Mina's full body weight landed partially on her stomach. "Mina, get offa me! You're heavy!"

"It's my heart! It's in cuteness overload!" Mina yowled dramatically as she pretended to die. "I think I see a light…!"

"Can't you die on top of someone else?" Toru complained. Tsuyu merely let out a ribbit of laughter.

Several of the other teenagers laughed with her and Eri shyly hid her head in Izuku's neck as she realized how much attention they had gained. But he could see a little smile stretching over her cheeks and it brought warmth to his own heart.

While their classmates had been distracted with Eri's cuteness and Mina's antics, Katsuki walked over to Momo and got her attention with a jerk of his head towards the little girl. "It all went well, then?"

"Yes," Momo nodded in agreement, lowering her voice to speak more privately. "She was nervous when you two left, so I brought her upstairs where it was a little quieter. Even then, I could tell she wasn't very comfortable. I had to think on the spot and I remembered…a little something that inspired me to make her the kiguruma."

She would _not_ be telling Katsuki that it was the pictures Mitsuki had shown her of him in an All Might onesie as a child that had inspired this particular creation.

Katsuki snorted and looked back to Izuku and Eri. "Looks like it worked."

"Mmhm," Momo hummed. "So I was thinking we could meet up around seven at the gym. Is that agreeable?"

"Works for me," he grunted. "I'll be with Deku and Eri until then."

She smiled and nodded. "Excellent. I look forward to it."

* * *

The boys spent the rest of the day with Eri, opting to stay inside since nothing could convince her to take off the kiguruma and wear clothing more suited for going outside. They had lunch and then moved to the floor near the TV in the common room to play board games and watch nature programs—a favorite of Eri's.

A few of their classmates joined them now and then, mostly Tsuyu, Mina, and Shoto. Tsuyu because Eri reminded her of her own siblings, (and Eri had taken a quick liking to the quiet frog-girl, too) Mina because she could not handle how cute Eri's kiguruma was, and Shoto because…well, he just wanted to hang out and see what was going on.

Katsuki still wasn't fond of him, but Izuku could tell the awkward boy was still trying to work on his social skills, not unlike himself. He often chatted quietly with Shoto while they played various games, and the other teen gradually relaxed and opened up a little bit more.

All too soon, though, the day came to an end.

There was a knock on the door around six-thirty and Aizawa stepped inside with Inko just behind him. Their teacher glanced around until he spotted his students with Eri and called to them. "Izuku, Katsuki! It's time for Eri to go."

The students looked up and Eri went quiet, burrowing into Izuku's chest as if to hide herself. Izuku lifted his hand to ruffle her hair and smiled at his mother. "Hey mom. Her stuff's upstairs, I'll go grab it."

Inko nodded and Izuku took a second to peel Eri off of him before crouching in front of the little girl. He took her hands and smiled at the child, who was suddenly frowning a little. "Hey, how about you say goodbye to everyone while I go get your stuff? Then I'll see you out, okay?"

"Okay," she agreed reluctantly.

Izuku stood then and walked towards the elevator, waving to his mother. "Wanna come see my room?"

"Sure, honey," Inko agreed, smiling.

Aizawa grunted. "Don't take too long. We'll have to close the campus gates in an hour."

"Yes, sir," Izuku replied obediently.

As Izuku led his mother to the elevator, the doors opened up and he stopped in his tracks. Ochako had come back down.

The two of them locked eyes for a few seconds, faces flushing slightly before Ochako spotted his mother and managed to distract herself. "Ms. Midoriya! Did you come to get Eri?"

"Hello, Ochako," Inko greeted her. "Yes, we're going to get her things now."

"Oh, I must be in the way then. Sorry!" Ochako scooted away from the elevator towards the kitchen. "I was just coming down to get dinner. I'll see you later!"

"Of course," Inko blinked at the girl in slight confusion as Ochako hurried to escape to the kitchen and started rummaging through the pantry. She and Izuku moved into the elevator and he hit the button that would take them to his floor.

His mother glanced at him on their way up, noting his flushed cheeks. "Is something the matter, dear?"

"Eh? N-no! Nothing at all!" Izuku stammered.

"Hmm," Inko didn't sound convinced, but she didn't push him.

They arrived at Izuku's room and went about gathering Eri's things. Izuku took the time to inform his mother about Eri's night terror then, and the woman sighed.

"I can't say I'm surprised. Her nightmares have been happening less lately, but I don't think they'll go away completely for a while. She's been improving, though."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded in agreement. "She did really well today."

Inko's mouth curved back up into a smile. "That's good to hear. We'll just have to be patient with her."

Izuku paused for a second and debated something in silence for a few moments. He…had some questions and didn't know who to go to about them. Now that his mother was here, though…

"Mom?" Izuku began tentatively, to which she hummed in response. She was currently unplugging the All Might nightlight from the wall while Izuku packed up Eri's clothes. "Do you mind telling me something?"

"What is it, honey?"

"Why did you…" He bit his lip, struggling to think of how best to word his question. "Why did you end up picking Hisashi?"

Inko froze in surprise, looking at her son with a startled expression. "I'm…I'm sorry?"

"Why did—" Izuku paused and tried again, expressing his worries to her. "I-I think I'm attracted to two different people and well—I was wondering why you picked him and not Toshinori so maybe I won't make the wrong decision, because I really can't tell if I should be feeling one way or another about them and—"

"Breathe!" Inko held her hand up, causing Izuku to stop his mumble storm and re-acquire some of his lost oxygen while his mother gathered her thoughts.

"Let's sit down," Inko told her son, gesturing to his bed. They sat on the edge and he looked at her with a kind of uncertain hope. Inko considered his question for a few more moments and then looked back at him. "What's brought this on?"

"Well…" Izuku swallowed. "Remember I said I thought I…liked Himiko?"

"Yes," she watched her son fidget for a few more moments before something clicked and she voiced her thoughts aloud. "Oh, do you like that Ochako girl, too?"

Izuku's face blossomed with color and she knew then that that was what had him all tongue-tied. "W-w-well, I—I mean, m-maybe, but I—"

"Breathe," she told him, smiling. "You're overthinking this, Izuku."

"B-but," he struggled again. "I mean—I like both of them and well…I feel kind of sleazy about it…"

"It's normal," Inko assured the boy. "There's nothing wrong with being attracted to more than a single person. It happens all the time. It happened to _me_. And Izuku, even if you were to find yourself in a relationship with either of them, it doesn't mean you'll necessarily be with them for the rest of your life, you know?"

He swallowed. "Then—why did you choose Hisashi?"

She paused for a moment and her eyes took on a faraway look. "Actually, I was with Toshinori a long time before I started dating Hisashi."

That was _not_ what he was expecting at all.

Izuku blinked for a second, stunned. "Eh?"

Inko laughed a little. "It's true. When I first met Toshinori and Hisashi, Toshinori was by far much more likable. I definitely had feelings for both of them back then, but I fell for Toshinori hard. He asked me out near the end of our first year and I accepted quite swiftly."

Izuku's jaw fell open. "Wait, what?! Then why—?"

 _Why am I_ ** _Hisashi's_** _son, then?_

Inko's smile faded just slightly. "As you know, Hisashi disappeared after our first year. Toshinori and I did our best to try and find him, but we couldn't in the end. We did our best to put it behind us and ended up dating each other throughout high school. We were in love."

Izuku sensed the inevitable "but" coming and swallowed.

"But then Toshinori's mentor, Nana, was killed," Inko murmured quietly. "That really shook him up. She was like a mother to him. When she died, I think Toshinori was too brokenhearted to handle his fears properly. He broke things off between us. He said it was because All for One might come after me next, and that the only way I'd be safe was if he was far away and severed all ties with me. I tried to convince him otherwise. I even told him I'd move to America with him if that was where he was going, but he was scared and hurt and stubborn about it. He left and…that was it."

Inko smiled a little sadly as she looked at her son, lifting a hand to cup his cheek. "After that, I had my own life to live. Toshinori and Hisashi were gone. I thought about them all the time. I never could meet anyone else that compared to them. And then…several years after Toshinori and I separated, I met Hisashi again by chance in a coffee shop."

He wasn't sure if he wanted to hear this part, but Izuku unwilling to stop his mother now. Inko stroked his skin with her thumb. "He was so different from when I knew him in high school. He was much calmer and more mature. Charming, handsome, and endearingly awkward…honestly, he and Toshinori couldn't have been much different. Hisashi told me his father had moved abroad and taken him along all of a sudden, which was why he hadn't been able to get in touch with us after that summer."

Of course, they both knew now that Hisashi had in fact been retrieved by All for One, but it hadn't been too large a lie. Mostly.

"My feelings for him had been buried for a long, long time since he'd disappeared, but when I met him again and found him to be so much…different," Inko swallowed. "Than he'd been when we were younger—I fell for him as hard as I had for Toshinori. And he fell for me, too."

Izuku bit his lip. "Did he…did he _really,_ or—"

He stopped talking when Inko gave him a sharp look. "I know you're not fond of him Izuku, but he wasn't…He never took advantage of me. It might sound like wishful thinking from me after all that's happened, but Hisashi…How do I explain this?"

She fell silent for a few seconds to gather her thoughts again before speaking. "There were times when he would come back to me after being gone on his trips and he would just…hold me. Sometimes he'd fall asleep like that. He was usually so, so tired after those trips. And even then, he'd wake up early in the morning and make me breakfast. Once, I was sick and messaged him about feeling under the weather, and he cut his trip short to come home and take care of me."

Izuku couldn't stop the frown on his face. That didn't sound like Hisashi at all. Not in the slightest.

"You didn't have any idea that he was…"

"No," she admitted. "But even so…There are some things you can't fake, Izuku. I watched so many of my friends "fall in love" over the years and eventually fall out of it. They seemed so perfect, but in the end, they never lasted. Hisashi and I—or even when I was with Toshinori—we had problems. Nothing was perfect, but we worked through them. Hisashi might not have been completely…honest with me about his life, but I know that he loved me."

Her smile wobbled and Izuku was alarmed for a moment to see her eyes glistening. "And _oh,_ you should have seen him when I told him you were on the way. Gods, he _loved_ _you_ as soon as he knew."

She swallowed and wiped her eyes, taking a moment to recover from the swell of emotion. "Of course, you know what happened after that. I'm not sure why he and Toshinori started fighting, but that was the end of the dream. Hisashi was gone. Toshinori distanced himself at my request. You were on the way and you became my whole world."

Inko pulled her son over and kissed his head. "And you always will be."

Izuku wasn't sure what to say. He hadn't expected his mother to be so very…certain that Hisashi had loved her. He'd expected something a bit more obvious, or maybe a sign he could read into that Hisashi hadn't been so honest.

Listening to her, though—he was almost convinced himself.

He felt a little more helpless because of it, though. "Then how should I know what to—"

"You _can't_ know, Izuku," Inko sighed. "There's no way for you to know who you should or shouldn't get close to until you know them. You should never _fall_ in love—you have to _grow_ in it. The more time you spend with someone who catches your eye…the more you learn about them, the more you'll see if they're right for you. You can make a good decision or a bad decision right off the bat depending on your perception of someone, but often times it's too quick. If you grow with someone, and it feels good and right…the only way you will know for certain then is if you take a leap of faith. And then you'll know, for better or for worse."

* * *

Less than an hour after Inko took Eri back home, Katsuki and Momo found themselves together in a training room at the school gym. Both were in simple workout clothing—tank tops and shorts. It was ideal for this kind of work. Well, whatever work Momo had in mind.

"So you gonna tell me what this is about, Ponytail?" Katsuki queried.

"Of course," Momo cleared her throat and met his eyes steadily. Katsuki dryly thought she looked ready to give him a lecture. "Simply put, I would like for you to help me improve my combat abilities. I feel I am…too stiff at the moment to be an acceptable fighter. Rescue maneuvers I can do well enough, although I could still improve in that area. But fighting is something I feel I need more work on."

"Hmm," Katsuki grunted, considering things. "What did you have in mind?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure," she admitted. "My Quirk is the ability to create things, and yet…quite ironically, I find myself suffering from a _lack_ of creativity. Combat is quick and intense. Your Quirk is ideal for it, and theoretically, mine should be too. I should have countless options available to me during battle, but I certainly don't feel like I'm capable of exploiting them right now. I'm not sure if it's a mentality thing or my own lack of experience with fighting, but I think perhaps it might be both. I believe that by sparring with you, I might be able to point myself in the right direction to become more proficient at combat. Do you agree?"

 _Yes, this is why she's worth my time,_ Katsuki thought to himself, feeling an eager grin cross his features. Smart as a whip and always seeking, always working to improve herself to be better. She had spotted a weakness in her skill as a hero and had immediately sought to fix that weakness. She was good at rescue maneuvers already—had been the highest scoring student in the Provisional License Exam by far for that very reason—and still she was not satisfied with her performance.

She would not settle. She would always challenger herself—challenge him. Boldly, fearlessly, and unapologetically.

"I think you're definitely onto something," he nodded, to which she smiled. "You've got a habit of being kinda stiff when you fight. I think we should go a few rounds today and plan for what you need to improve on for our next session."

Momo raised an eyebrow, but her smile widened. "Bold of you to assume there will be a _next time."_

"Call it intuition," Katsuki's grin widened into a wild smirk as his body fell into that familiar position, leaving him ready to spring into action. "Somehow I don't think you'll be satisfied until you take me down once or twice."

"Once or twice? Don't flatter yourself," she shot back, matching his stance. "I'm a quick learner, Katsuki."

"We'll see!" Katsuki laughed, then lunged at her.

* * *

 **A/N: I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG!**

 **The last few months have been absolutely mad for me. I moved into a new house and am still learning how to run the place on my own in addition to helping my cat adapt to an indoor lifestyle. Work has become completely and utterly insane for me, leaving me with nearly no time to do any writing whatsoever, and just recently my car has broken down and needs repairs. In addition, I think me taking a break was a good idea at the time. Gave me a bit of a breather to focus on IRL and think more about where the story is gonna go. I'll do my best to make sure the next chapter comes out faster.**

 **Finally, thanks to my two beta readers, Akiyamasamalamadingdong and Author Of Purpose! Also thanks to the people on the Viridescent Discord Server for keeping me going! You guys rock!**

 **So as always, please review and thanks for reading!**


	40. Fall Semester, Start!

_Chapter Forty: Fall Semester, Start!_

Izuku took a seat at his desk and checked for the fourth time that morning that he had everything he needed for class. Around him, the rest of 1-A was also getting situated and chatting it up before school started.

"Man, it feels like forever since we last had homeroom like this!" Denki exclaimed to a few of the other students.

Hanta nodded. "It's only been a couple of months, but it feels like a year's passed since the last time we were here."

"Well, things _did_ get pretty hectic once Summer started," Kyoka pointed out absently from her seat, scrolling along her phone in the last minutes before class began. "Between the Training Camp, the Kamino Incident, and getting our Provisional Licenses, it's been one thing after another."

"Yes! That is the life of a hero!" Tenya announced, lifting his chin up and holding a hand to his chest. "No matter what hardships come our way, we must press on! It is time once again to focus on our education!"

The bell sounded and on cue, the familiar shape of their homeroom teacher stepped inside. Aizawa's sharp eyes flitted over the students, and he was satisfied to see they were all in their seats and waiting attentively for him to start class. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Mr. Aizawa!"

"We've got a lot to cover, so let's get started right away," he told the students as he walked to his desk at the front. "First and foremost, now that the semester has officially begun, your classes will once again take priority. I know the last few months have been trying and focused mostly on your hero skills and Quirk training, but it's time to get back to studying. With the dorm system in place, I understand that it's quite tempting to spend your time mingling with your friends, but be smart about it. Just because you're around the other students all the time now doesn't mean us teachers are going to ease up on the paperwork. Get into good study habits as soon as possible."

His gaze lingered on Mina and Denki in particular, and they both shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Yes, sir."

Aizawa grunted in satisfaction before moving on. "On the subject of dorms, now that the lot of you are all living together, there are a few things we need to address. If you would, leave your things here and follow me. We're going to have a joint lesson with Class B today for homeroom."

Izuku blinked somewhat in surprise. A joint lesson? What could that be?

* * *

The students of Class 1-A and 1-B were all gathered together in a larger room used sometimes for guest lectures. They all took a seat and began to quiet chat amongst themselves while the teachers started to organize some paperwork at the front.

Izuku glanced over the crowd of students and chewed on his lip curiously. What were they all doing here together? Aizawa hadn't told any of them anything about a joint lesson until now.

He jumped slightly as someone tapped on his shoulder and he spun around to find himself looking at Itsuka, who offered him a small smile. Her voice dropped to speak to him. "Do you know what this is about?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, Mr. Aizawa didn't tell us anything. Mr. Vlad King didn't tell you, either?"

"Nothing," she admitted, frowning slightly. "I wonder what's going on?"

"This place is usually used for guest lectures, but we've never had one before," Setsuna muttered, elbowing Itsuka lightly to get her attention. "Maybe that's what's happening?"

"Yes, but why not tell us in advance?" Fumikage pointed out. "We're usually informed about things like this much earlier."

Izuku nodded in agreement. Before they could continue to discuss things, however, Mr. Aizawa cleared his throat and gained the total attention of both classes. At the front of the room alongside him were Vlad King, Toshinori, Midnight, and Recovery Girl. Izuku tilted his head at Toshinori curiously, asking a silent question, but the man looked somewhat awkward as he just shrugged.

Aizawa stuffed his hands into his pockets as he addressed their students. "Now that U.A is a boarding school, we've got a few topics that need to be brought up. First and foremost, you lot were informed upon moving into the dorms about the rules we expect you to follow. That hasn't changed with school starting up again, but since you're all living in close quarters with one another now, it was decided that this was as good a time as any to get the mandatory health class out of the way."

Every single student in the room froze as a dreaded suspicion formed in their minds. Aizawa, obviously sensing their discomfort, smirked. "That's right, you lot have to sit through a sexual education course."

Immediately, all the teenagers whined and moved away from each other as the atmosphere became extremely uncomfortable. Aizawa snorted at their misery, but paid it no mind. "Don't complain. None of the teachers are here to slap a ban on the love lives of a bunch of teenagers, but we also don't want any of you doing something stupid now that you're living under our roof. We'll be assisting Recovery Girl in providing you with an in-depth education on the matter, not that garbage about abstinence they teach in America. It's illogical."

Midnight grinned as the students uselessly attempted to hide in singularities of embarrassment. "Oh, don't get so uneasy. It's part of life! It's not _that_ big of a deal."

Vlad King grunted in agreement. "The main reason for this is so that if any of your relationships progress to a…physical stage…you'll be educated enough to make good decisions."

Amidst the crowd of miserable students, Katsuki growled uneasily. "Whatever, just get it over with, already!"

His annoyance got Aizawa's attention and the man's smirk widened. "Which reminds me, since we'll be covering a variety of topics during this seminar…my five problem children. As punishment for your activities during the Summer, you lot will be our hypothetical examples for the lesson."

Katsuki sputtered and bristled like a startled cat, his jaw opening and closing in imitation of an oxygen-deprived fish. Ochako slapped her face in embarrassment and would have started floating if Tsuyu hadn't helped to keep her grounded. Tenya just looked uncomfortable and Momo was trying to maintain her composure with a gulp.

Shoto appeared to be uncertain as to how to react to the news, but he took it better than the others did.

Nobody really had it in them to make fun of the five students' punishment for fear of receiving a similar sentence. The other teens wisely remained silent as Recover Girl made her way to the front of the classroom. Behind the other teachers, Toshinori turned on the projector to pull up a slide show.

Recovery Girl cleared her throat and smiled at the crowd of teenagers. "Hello, everyone. Let's begin…"

* * *

One hour and no shortage of mortifying moments later, Toshinori finally turned off the projector as Recovery Girl rapped her cane on the floor. "That's all we'll cover for today. Any questions?"

Most of the students looked so uncomfortable they couldn't open their mouths in the first place to ask anything. Katsuki looked pissed off and ready to commit murder if the constant popping of his palms said anything.

The only one to say anything was Mina.

Never one to let herself or her friends remain unavenged amidst one-sided embarrassment, she looked at the teachers with sharp eyes. Looking for the weak link. She'd get some payback on the smug and bemused adults overseeing this ancient torture event, she swore to herself.

Her eyes found the skinny, blonde shape of Toshinori. She almost felt bad picking him, but it was so obvious. Vlad King and Aizawa looked too steady to tease. Recovery Girl was just waiting for questions and Midnight would probably enjoy it too much.

But this was war and she took her shot.

"Mr. All Might?" Mina asked, raising her hand and garnering the attention of the room. She blinked at him innocently, contradicting her true intentions. "Did you ever do stuff like this when you were at U.A?"

Toshinori blanched and coughed into his fist, doing his best to ignore the sudden, curious stares. "Well…ahem. That is to say, I err…"

Midnight snickered mischievously. "C'mon Toshinori, it's an innocent question from your students. No need to get all flustered."

 _You're enjoying this as much as they are,_ Toshinori mentally grumbled at the woman. He cleared his throat and managed to remain composed. "Well, yes…"

"Really? Who?!" Mina queried. The rest of the students also looked surprised and interested to know that the former number one hero had, in fact, been in such a relationship during his high school days.

"Are there any _actual_ questions for Recovery Girl?" Aizawa interrupted Mina, causing her to pout.

Izuku meanwhile, was still distracted by Toshinori's admission. He met the suddenly stiff man's eyes with a slight frown, processing…

Hadn't his mother just told him that she and Toshinori had dated in…high..school…

 _Izuku . exe has stopped working._

"WHOA!" Denki yelped and leapt away from Izuku as the boy's face exploded with green fire. "Dude! Hey, chill out!"

Aizawa stared at Izuku for a second, prompting the flames to disappear, but it didn't remove the deep crimson flush and mentally destroyed look on his face. Their teacher sighed and watched as his teenage student failed to recover. "Someone snap him out of it. We have more important information to tell you lot."

Vlad King crossed his arms and took over. "Starting this semester, you will all be allowed to participate in Hero Internships. They're hero activities done off-campus. Think of them as a more formalized version of the internships you took part in last semester following the Sports Festival."

With their mortification now mostly gone, the students were able to focus on their teachers again and began to wonder at the new information.

That is, until Togaru Kamakiri, one of the 1-B students, suddenly snapped. "Wait a second! Then what the hell was the point of us participating in the Sports Festival, huh?!"

"Settle down," Aizawa ordered. "The Sports Festival is an opportunity for you to make connections. This internship program allows you to make use of those connections. They aren't related to your school classes at all—they're managed at the discretion of the students themselves. So if you didn't make any connections at the Sports Festival this last year, it'd be difficult for you to participate in these internships."

Midnight chimed in. "A while back, hero offices would conduct their own recruiting operations, but since they would sometimes fight over students, the system was changed. That's why it is the way now."

"Che!" Togaru scowled and crossed his arms. "Just spit it out next time!"

Vlad sighed at his student's rudeness, but carried on where Midnight left off. "Since you've attained Provisional Licenses, you're eligible to participate in formal, longer-term activities. Not many first-years get their licenses like you have, but with the recent surge of villain activity, we're thinking about your participation in these internships carefully. Originally, the plan was to call the internship program off for you first years entirely."

A mass of protests arose from the students until Aizawa flared his Quirk and glared at them. "Quiet. As Vlad said, that was originally the plan, but there's also the concern that constantly keeping you here under our protection won't raise you into strong heroes. So we've come to a compromise: Your internship activities will be limited to offices that have a good track record. You'll have ask your homeroom teacher to confirm which office you want to intern at before you're able to contact said office with an internship request."

The protests died down as Aizawa fell silent. He glanced around the room for a few seconds. "Are we clear on that? Good. If you have any further questions, ask myself or Vlad King. You're all dismissed."

Izuku, having rebooted just enough to comprehend what his teachers were saying, managed to consider the internship program for a second. _I wonder if Gran Torino would let me intern with him again?_

* * *

Izuku made his call to Gran Torino later that day when class was over. Unfortunately, the old hero's initial response wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping for.

 _"HUH?! Another internship?! Who do you think you are?!"_ Torino laughed in disbelief.

"W-well, I was wondering if you were accepting…" Izuku stammered.

 _"Psh, I look away for ten seconds and you go acting like some big shot! Ha!"_ There was a brief snort. _"Sorry kid, but my plate is full up for the foreseeable future. I ain't got time to play babysitter with ya. Ah, but wait! You don't have any other internship options besides me, do ya?! You no-good successor!"_

The teen gulped. "It's because I'm a no-good successor that I need to do whatever it takes to become the number one hero—"

 _"Oh, quit trying to act cool,"_ Torino chuckled. _"Talk to Toshinori. He's completely devoted to your growth, you know?"_

"B-but Mr. Aizawa said we should make use of our resources from the Sports Festival…"

 _"You don't_ ** _have_** _any resources from the Sports Festival, sherlock,"_ Torino responded bluntly. "But All Might is a resource for ya on his own. He's got a number of people he could introduce you do for internships. For example…his former sidekick, Sir Nighteye."

Izuku paused at that and blinked. _Sidekick? Wait, that's right! He had a sidekick once!_

Torino's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. _"Nighteye is the only person to have ever been All Might's sidekick, and he's a skilled hero still running his own office today. Request an introduction to him from Toshinori and go from there, kid. I think it'd be good for you—you and Nighteye are a lot alike in some ways."_

* * *

"You want me to introduce you to Nighteye?" Toshinori asked with his brows raised high. "Well, that came out of the blue! Where'd this come from?"

"Yes, sir!" Izuku replied, standing straight and rigid like a soldier before his superior. He still felt nervous, standing there in the teacher's lounge in front of his mentor. He'd been afraid of things being awkward between himself and Toshinori after their argument and today's…realization that his mother and Toshi had been closer than he ever needed to know—

He shoved that thought down and focused on the topic at hand. If he focused on business, he could ignore that stuff for the time being. "Gran Torino told me about him after saying he couldn't take me in for another internship."

Toshinori grunted. "I see…Gran Torino, eh? And now you want to jump into the internships head first…"

"Could you please introduce me to Sir Nighteye for an internship recommendation?" Izuku requested, bowing.

"No," Toshinori answered bluntly.

Izuku froze and almost lifted his head to demand why, but Toshinori beat him to it. "I'm not saying this to be mean. There are three reasons why. First, I was one of the teachers who thought that the first years should avoid internships altogether because of the high villain activities. Second, I think it'd be better for you to focus more on mastering your Quirk and combat style. And three, Nighteye and I broke off our team, so things between us are awkward."

The boy gulped. Those were all perfectly good reasons to refuse him an introduction, but even so…

"…I still want to do it. I need to catch up to you as soon as I can," Izuku said slowly, looking up to face his mentor. Toshinori stared back at him evenly. "I think training under Sir Nighteye might give me a good point of comparison to you, so I can reach that goal even faster. Everyone is going to be working hard, with or without the internships, but I have to exceed that! I won't be able to be the number one hero by taking it easy!"

Toshinori internally sighed. He'd had a feeling the kid wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. Izuku could be surprisingly insistent and persuasive when he wanted to be. He got that from his mother, the man realized with some fondness.

He was rushing towards his dream, to surpass All Might as his successor. Toshinori lifted one hand to rub his forehead, considering things for a few moments before he eventually made a decision. "As much as I like that side of you, young Izuku, you're still not getting an introduction—not from me, anyways."

Izuku blinked at him in confusion. "Then who?"

"You'll see," Toshinori grunted. "Meet me at my office in an hour."

* * *

One week later, Izuku found himself standing in front of Sir Nighteye's hero office, following the person who'd be giving him an introduction—Mirio Togata, one of U.A's Big Three. He hadn't seen Mirio in a while, and it was even more of a surprise to find out the older teenager was currently interning under Nighteye.

 _"Young Mirio is interning with Sir Nighteye at the moment," Toshinori had begun after calling Mirio and Izuku into his office._

 _"R-really?!" Izuku exclaimed in surprise._

 _"Yeah! I've been super lucky to intern with him for a year now!" Mirio confirmed with a big smile._

 _Before Izuku could nerd out and start asking his upperclassman about Nighteye, Toshinori cleared his throat. "Young Mirio, from your perspective, do you think young Izuku is fit to work under Nighteye?"_

 _"Hmm," Mirio pursed his lips to think about it. "I haven't seen much of his hero skills since the Sports Festival, but if he was good enough to get the Provisional License, he's probably ready. You want me to introduce him to Sir, right, All Might? I'm fine with that, but why use me as a middleman? Sir would be overjoyed if you called him and asked yourself! He's always watching your videos!"_

 _Toshinori shifted uncomfortably. "Honestly, I just can't bring myself to see him. I ended up becoming exactly what he warned me about, after all…But that's besides the point. What do you think of young Izuku? Is he a good fit for Nighteye in the first place?"_

 _"Well, from a first impression, I like him," Mirio said simply. "I think Sir would get along with him, too!"_

 _"Really?!" Izuku squeaked._

 _"Only one way to find out for sure, though," Mirio stopped him from getting to excited. "We'll have to ask Sir himself!"_

With Mirio's agreement and the school's permission (Nighteye's office was one of the good ones they would allow first years to intern at), the upperclassman set up a time for Izuku to come along with him to Nighteye's office on Saturday. One hour's train ride away from U.A and they were there.

Izuku gulped as he stood before the large building, knowing that this was probably his best shot at getting an internship in his first year. He'd brought along his costume (which was in his backpack) as Mirio had requested, but somehow he didn't feel quite ready.

"Ease up, freshman!" Mirio chuckled, giving him a playful pat on the shoulder. "If you don't get energetic, you won't get anywhere with Sir! He's strict, but he likes energetic people who have a sense of humor!"

"I-I know," Izuku muttered. "I'm just a little nervous. Even in the videos I watched of him in action, he's so intimidating…"

"Just make a good impression on him!" The upperclassman encouraged. "Come on! Summon your courage! You can do it!"

Mirio led him into the office, announcing their presence. "Hey, Sir! I brought the first year I told you about the other day!"

Izuku opened his mouth to greet the man who was hopefully going to be his new boss, but found himself rooted to the spot as he met sharp, analyzing eyes.

Nighteye was tall. Even sitting at desk, he was as tall as Izuku. His body was thin and lithe, but beneath the formal suit Izuku knew was lean muscle. Due to his Quirk not being a combat type, the man trained extensively. His dark green hair was smoothed down and parted to his left, with three yellow streaks towards the front. Strikingly bright, yellow eyes stared at him from behind triangular glasses with what should have been a passive expression, but wound up being more of a glare due to the man's sharp facial features.

Standing beside Nighteye's desk was a tall, thin man with the face of a centipede, and at the front of the desk between them and Nighteye stood a young woman with light blue skin and dark blue hair, who had apparently been giving some kind of report.

"Ah!" The girl smiled at them. "Mirio! Hey, there!"

"We'll save the rest of the report for later, Bubble Girl," Nighteye said, regaining the woman's attention. "But you were starting to become monotonous. Remember to be energetic when giving your reports, or it's Tickle Hell for you."

Bubble Girl shivered in fright and bounced in place, forcing a huge smile onto her face. "Y-yes, Sir!"

Izuku blinked in confusion. What was Tickle Hell?

"Anyways, this is Izuku Midoriya, my underclassman! He's a little green, but he's a great guy!" Mirio announced, introducing Izuku to the other heroes. Izuku wasn't sure whether or not the pun was intentional, but he couldn't resist a little snort. "Izuku, this is Sir Nighteye, Bubble Girl, and Centipeder!"

"Good energy, Mirio," Nighteye complimented. Izuku thought it was a compliment. It was hard to tell since the man was so serious.

The hero locked onto him and he froze again.

"So," Nighteye began after a short pause. "You are Izuku Midoriya."

Recalling that Mirio said Nighteye liked people with a sense of humor, Izuku tried to make his response a little funny, at least. "Uh, yeah, last I checked?"

"You need to loosen up," Nighteye told him bluntly. "Humor loses any hope of being amusing if you aren't believable."

That was a no-go, then. Izuku lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head. "I'm sorry, it's just…It's so exciting to meet All Might's sidekick. I admire him so much, but it's hard to nerd out about him at school since he's around all the time. I'm a little nervous."

Nighteye raised a thin, yellow eyebrow at that. "Oh? You claim to be an All Might fan?"

"Y-yes!" Izuku exclaimed, his inner nerd gleaning through a little. "I've got figurines of him throughout each of his heroic ages and even some of the really rare collectibles that were only available for a limited time, and of course I kept up with all of his hero work over the years so I could improve myself and I've watched every public video available and recorded each fight that was broadcasted—"

"Where was all that energy when you first walked in the door, freshman?!" Mirio laughed, giving Izuku a friendly slap on the back and knocking him out of his mumble storm.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry!" Izuku yelped, slapping his hands over his mouth in embarrassment.

Bubble Girl giggled and Centipeder snorted in amusement. Nighteye looked less amused.

"If you're a true All Might fan, then even his lesser accomplishments should be familiar to you," Nighteye said, regaining Izuku's attention. "Are you aware of the Vinegar Suicide Incident?"

"Oh, yeah!" Izuku perked right back up, excitedly reciting his encyclopedic knowledge of his childhood hero. "It's really obscure since there weren't any villains involved, but it's one of my favorites! They touched on it once during a documentary on All Might "looking back on the old days" but it was really brief and even the fan sites don't have a lot of information on it! He saved a middle schooler who's Quirk could change water into vinegar after he fell into a river! But All Might jumped into the river even as it became vinegar and saved him. It damaged his eyes, but he was still smiling!"

Mirio, Bubble Girl, and Centipeder looked absolutely lost, but Nighteye went on without missing a beat. "That particular line All Might told the middle schooler after saving him—"

" _'Don't mention it! Thanks to you, my skin looks ten years younger!'_ Yeah, it was perfect!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Hm," Nighteye seemed vaguely impressed. "There's some hope for you, after all."

"Huh?" Izuku asked, pausing his nerd-fest.

"We'll have to work on making you more energetic on a daily basis, but that can wait," Nighteye announced, standing from his desk to his full height. "For the time being, I've decided that you can intern here."

Izuku went rigid in surprise. "Wait, what?! B-but, there wasn't an interview or—"

"That _was_ your interview, greenhorn!" Mirio laughed. The puns had to be intentional, there was just no way they weren't. "I told you you could do it!"

Nighteye grunted. "I'll stamp the contract and address the details with you shortly, but first thing's first—we're going to the training room. Mirio, show him where he can change into his hero costume. I want both of you ready."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Izuku and Mirio stood in a large, open room with reinforced walls with Nighteye and his sidekicks. It was on the lowest floor of the building and was clearly designed for combat training.

"I have no doubt U.A has been pushing you hard," Nighteye said as soon as they got to the training room. "But I need to see your current skills for myself to decide how I should utilize you while you're under my roof."

The tall hero glanced at Mirio. "Assess him."

Mirio grinned and threw his hand up in a salute. "Yes, Sir!"

Nighteye looked back to Izuku steadily. "You will fight Mirio. Do not hold back, or he will crush you in an instant."

Izuku gulped and nodded, clenching his fists. "I'm ready!"

With Nighteye, Bubble Girl, and Centipeder at the sidelines, Izuku and Mirio squared off on opposite sides of the room. Mirio's smile was broad and challenging. "Come at me whenever you're ready, greenhorn!"

Izuku leaned on one leg and then the other, stretching them to loosen up and calm his nerves. His mind focused on what he knew about Mirio and his Quirk. He'd only seen it in action once during the villain invasion at U.S.J, and only briefly.

 _I know it's some kind of Phasing Quirk, but that's all I've got to work off of,_ he thought, staring at Mirio steadily. _It could also be a Warping Quirk of some kind, but regardless of which it is, he's going to have to materialize in order to hit me. I'll have to make things up as I go along…_

Nighteye studied Izuku in complete silence as the boy made his preparations to begin the fight. _He's a thinker. Good._

Izuku finally straightened up and activated Overdrive, plasma crackling over his body. He pulled his hood over his face, causing the costume's "bunny ears" to spike up. With a quick crouch, he was lunging at Mirio and swinging his fist at the older teen's face…

…only to pass right through it, having done zero damage to him.

Izuku spun around and backpedaled, regaining his balance easily as Mirio turned to face him. _Yeah, I figured. Such a straightforward attack won't work on him. But he didn't phase through the ground, so he's only making part of his body untouchable. In which case…_

He lunged again and Mirio grinned back, undaunted. As soon as he made contact with the older boy—or rather, when he _would_ have made contact, since Mirio started phasing again—Izuku flared up with as much plasma as he could generate at once, consuming the space where Mirio would have been.

Izuku recovered and spun again, trying to assess if he'd done any damage to his sparring partner.

Although Mirio's body looked mostly unharmed, his boots and ankles were singed and he appeared to be briefly surprised. The surprise only lasted a moment though, for he grinned. "You figured me out pretty fast!"

Izuku's eyes narrowed, unimpressed with how much damage he'd dealt. It at least proved that Mirio could be physically harmed, but unless he caught the other boy completely off-guard, he wouldn't be able to do hardly anything with a full-frontal assault.

 _He's not going to let me get another shot in like that,_ the boy considered as he began to circle Mirio. _Countering this Quirk of his is all about timing. I have to predict when and where he'll phase his body and aim for the point he chooses to solidify. I could try to burn him every time he materializes, but there's no telling if the damage I do will match or exceed the damage he'll deal to me. His fine-tuning skills are amazing. Phasing Quirks like his seem simple, but there's no way it's not an incredibly complex ability._

Despite the challenge, Izuku felt a grin curve across his lips. _I know I can get you!_

"My turn, greenhorn!" Mirio announced suddenly, rushing at Izuku in a blur of speed.

Izuku watched as Mirio phased into the ground and he jumped up and backwards in an instant, clenching his fist in preparation. Just as he'd expected, Mirio ended up popping out of the floor right behind where he'd been standing.

The timing was spot-on. Izuku's fist was driven into the back of Mirio's very solid head, hurtling the other teen back to the floor.

Bubble Girl almost choked on her own saliva. "He got him?!"

Nighteye's mind was racing. _His analysis and prediction skills are good enough to pick apart Mirio's Quirk so quickly. He's already managed to hit him twice in succession. They're weak blows and won't leave any relevant damage, but that he can strike Mirio even once is impressive. That being said…_

Mirio's head phased into the floor, his body following and disappearing completely for an instant before he rocketed back up, feet-first. As Izuku came down to the ground, Mirio's boots solidified and smashed into his gut.

The impact drove the wind out of him and sent Izuku flying into the wall behind him. He gasped and dropped to his knees, stunned by the blow.

Mirio flipped and landed on his feet, turning and rubbing the back of his somewhat sore head. "Whew! You're something, greenhorn!"

 _Did he crack my ribs with that?!_ Izuku wondered, shocked by the force of the blow. The propulsive force when Mirio was launched out of the ground was way stronger than he'd expected.

The older teen blinked at him when Izuku didn't immediately get up. "Whoops, I might've overdone that."

Izuku growled and forced himself to stand back up. He shook himself and caught his breath, glaring at Mirio with slight annoyance. "I-I'm fine."

Mirio cocked his head to one side. "You sure?"

With another quick breath, Izuku pushed off the floor and launched himself towards the wall, bouncing from one to another with his acrobatic skills and picking up speed. It was a long shot, but if he could trick Mirio into attacking him again, he could aim for the counter and get another shot in. But there wasn't much time for him to take that shot since Mirio was no doubt wary of him now.

He was going to have to get more creative.

He picked a launch point at Mirio's back and phased through him as expected, but spun around midair and generated as much heat as he could along his arms. When Mirio crouched and leaned in close to chase after him, Izuku swiftly clapped his hands together. _Pyroclasm!_

The force of the shockwave picked up Mirio's solidified body and sent both him and Izuku flying in opposite directions. Though both were stunned for a moment, Mirio flipped backwards and recovered with ease, while Izuku skidded along the floor before coming to a stop.

Mirio's helmet was singed and he had mild burns along his face and arms, but the damage wasn't much, to Izuku's frustration.

Nighteye snapped his fingers sharply. "That's enough!"

Mirio let out a breath and removed his helmet to observe the damage for himself before grinning at Izuku. "Man, you're pretty good, greenhorn!"

"Th-thanks," Izuku replied as he pushed himself into a sitting position. His arms weren't sore thanks to the arm bracers of his costume, but his stomach still _hurt_ from Mirio's kick.

All in all, despite landing more hits on Mirio, Izuku had certainly taken more meaningful damage.

Mirio walked over and offered a hand to help Izuku to his feet, which the underclassman gratefully accepted. Nighteye walked over to them with Bubble Girl and Centipeder at his sides.

"That was awesome!" Bubble Girl exclaimed, bouncing with excitement. "I can't believe you're only a first year! It's been ages since I saw Mirio get hit!"

"Indeed," Nighteye agreed before glancing at Mirio. "Your assessment. Deliver it with energy."

"Sir, yes Sir!" Mirio saluted with a cheesy grin. The teenager turned to Izuku. "You've got really good reflexes, and your analysis skills are crazy sharp! But your speed and firepower are second-rate and you've gotta work on making use of long-range attacks with your flames! You're kinda wasting your Quirk relying just on close-combat! If you can improve those weak points, you might actually beat me one day!"

The upperclassman returned his gaze to Nighteye. "How was that?"

"Energetic, positive, and to the point," Nighteye said approvingly. "Well done."

"Thanks!"

Nighteye looked at Izuku then. "Put simply, Mirio's assessment is spot-on. Your intellect and analysis skills have carried you far, but without power, they won't carry you much further. You're wasteful. That Pyroclasm was weak and unfocused. A large or armored villain wouldn't even flinch in the face of such an attack. Without making use of your flames at a distance, you might as well just be swatting at the villains with a hot spatula."

He paused for a moment, letting that sink in before continuing. "From now on, you'll spend some time each afternoon at U.A training with Mirio to improve your skills and Quirk. I also suggest you speak with the Support Department at U.A to make some changes to your costume so as to better utilize your flames. Power and precision should be your main focus with those changes."

Izuku nodded slowly, processing that information. "Yes, sir!"

Nighteye grunted and then looked at Centipeder. "Take Bubble Girl and Mirio to the briefing room and catch Mirio up on our current investigation. I'll take Izuku to my office to sort out the contract."

"Very well," Centipeder agreed, dipping his head before leading Bubble Girl and Mirio off.

Mirio gave Izuku a wave and a grin on his way out. "See ya soon, greenhorn!"

Izuku smiled back and followed Nighteye to his office, feeling a bit better after all that had happened.

* * *

Once Izuku changed out of his hero costume, he stood before Nighteye at the man's desk, where they went over the details of his internship for a while before falling into a brief silence. The hero was quiet for several moments as he gathered his thoughts.

"I'll be frank with you," Nighteye began suddenly. "When All Might contacted me to say that he'd chosen _you_ of all people to inherit One for All, I thought he'd lost his mind."

Izuku stiffened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Spare me the unnecessary questions," Nighteye waved it away with his hand. "You're smart enough to know what I'm talking about. All Might, passing One for All on to the child of one of his greatest enemies? Surely that must strike you as odd."

"I…didn't expect it either," Izuku admitted, lifting one of his hands and staring at it. "But he told me that regardless of my father…I could become a hero. And that's what I intend to be. I want to be a hero that surpasses even him!"

"You've got your work cut out for you," Nighteye told him bluntly. "But I'll agree with All Might in saying that you've got potential. Right now, you're nowhere near close to that legendary man. Calling you his apprentice right now is a poor joke in itself. I won't stand for it— I'll see to it that you are honed into a hero. It will be grueling. I will not settle. I will push you so hard that you will wish I refused your internship. You will struggle to even keep pace with your fellow students in school. I will expect nothing less than perfection from All Might's successor."

Izuku gulped, but he glared back steadily at the man. "I'm looking forward to it."

"As am I," Nighteye agreed. The man pulled out a sheet of paper—the internship contract, Izuku realized—and pushed it across the desk along with a pen. "Sign at the bottom of this page and you'll officially be working here as an intern."

As he passed Izuku the pen, their fingers briefly made contact. The boy thought nothing of it as he signed the spot at the bottom of the contract, shaking a little with excitement and nervousness. Nighteye remained utterly silent as Izuku filled out his portion of the paperwork.

"There!" Izuku exclaimed, lifting his head to smile at the man. "That's it, right?"

"Yes," Nighteye replied, nodding. "There's just one more matter we need to discuss."

Izuku blinked. What else was there?

"From now on, you're to report to me each and every time you make contact with Himiko Toga."

His blood froze. Nighteye merely looked back at him, unfazed by the boy's shock.

"Wh…what…" Izuku managed, still stunned.

"You're quite aware that my Quirk is Foresight, correct?" Nighteye queried. "Truthfully, part of the reason I accepted your internship in the first place was to utilize Foresight and predict if and when the League of Villains might make another attempt at capturing you so we could counter them. I wasn't aware that you were still in contact with any of their members, however."

Nighteye observed Izuku closely. "I opted to utilize Foresight just now to see if I could garner some glimpse of the League, but I didn't anticipate you meeting with Toga so…willingly, it seemed. Explain that to me."

Still in shock, Izuku robotically did as Nighteye asked, informing the man about Himiko's mental state and that he had spoken with All Might and Detective Tsukauchi regarding the situation, as well as their thoughts on the matter.

Nighteye was silent for a time. "It's dangerous for you, but it seems that you're safe enough around them for the foreseeable future. Inform Tsukauchi that my Foresight confirmed your safety—that should make convincing him of the situation easier. We can consider this to be an assignment as part of your internship. Before you meet with her from now on, we'll utilize my Foresight to ensure you aren't walking into a trap. Intel isn't worth it if you're captured or killed."

Izuku blinked at the unexpected suggestion, but he quickly realized its merits. If Nighteye saw that he was in danger, he'd be able to avoid the risk, or at least counteract it. "That'd be great."

Nighteye hummed in assent. "I apologize for utilizing my Quirk so unexpectedly, but I felt it was necessary. I will not let All Might's successor be taken from under my watch. Now, let's get you back to Mirio. The two of you must return to U.A shortly. We'll begin your official internship activities next week."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Izuku flopped onto his bed with a low groan. His day had wound up being absolutely crazy—between his meeting at Nighteye's office and sparring with Mirio, (his stomach was _still_ sore, geez) he felt drained enough to the point that he decided to go to sleep early. Mirio had insisted they get started on his training the next day, which would also include a visit to the Support Department to brainstorm costume upgrades.

That meant he'd be dealing with Mei, and he was gonna need all his energy to escape that encounter with all his limbs intact.

His phone vibrated in his hand and for a moment, he considered just tossing the thing to the floor and finding out who was texting him in the morning. But common sense won out and with a tired sigh, he lifted his hand to bring his phone up so he could read the message. Tired as he was, he had to read it a couple of times before it registered.

 _Hey, we should meet soon! Friday good 4 u? —H_

Izuku became more alert as he realized the message was from Himiko. She hadn't texted him since their last meeting and he'd been getting a little worried about the lack of contact, but it seemed that she'd finally gotten around to messaging him.

He considered the idea carefully. He'd have to meet her after school Friday. It would probably mean going to the first day of his internship with Nighteye feeling tired, but it was necessary.

 _That sounds good. Does 7pm work? —I_

He didn't have long to wait before she responded.

 _Yup! It's a date! —H_

Izuku flushed and sputtered at the message. It most definitely was not a date, he reminded himself. Himiko was just messing with him.

He decided to move the conversation on before he lost all coherency.

 _What have you been up to? —I_

 _Not much. It's sooooo boooring! Kurogiri is no fun and Dabi's always with your dad, so he's never around. Tomura's got everyone running around looking for allies and stuff. They all suck at it. —H_

Izuku snorted. Yeah, he'd wondered how Tomura's lackluster social skills would work amongst villains outside of All for One's influence. It was good to know that the so-called "Successor of Evil" was absolute crap at his new job.

 _Hey, we should do something fun! —H_

 _Like what? —I_

 _Let's go into town! It's been ages since I had any fun in the city! —H_

Izuku pursed his lips tightly. That…didn't sound like a great idea. Nobody was supposed to know Himiko was anywhere near U.A.

 _That's probably too dangerous for you. —I_

 _Nah, it's fine! I've got a special trick! —H_

Izuku frowned and felt his wariness climb.

 _You can't take somebody's blood just so you can pose as them to run around the city. —I_

He was almost certain she could practically hear his disapproval in the message, but she was quick to respond.

 _Meh, that sounds like effort. I've got an easier way. Don't worry! —H_

An easier way? Izuku raised an eyebrow as he read that message a few times over, but eventually he just sighed. He'd play her game for now and see what she had in mind when they met up.

 _Alright, then. But if I think it's a bad idea, we'll have to hang out at the apartment. —I_

 _You won't, but if you end up being a worrywart anyways, you better bring a good movie over! —H_

Izuku rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to smirk at her demands. It sounded like she was in a good mood. He hoped it would last until they met up on Friday. He really, really didn't want to deal with Himiko when she was on the edge of a blood frenzy ever again.

 _So, what'd you get up to today? —H_

He blinked at the question and his smirk faded into something more like a smile. It was so odd having a (sort of) normal conversation with her.

 _Not much, just hero stuff. —I_

 _Ohh, the adventures of big bad hero Izu! This I gotta hear about! —H_

That got a slight laugh out of him. Feeling a bit lighter about his upcoming meeting with her, Izuku got around to telling Himiko about his day (omitting certain details, of course) and otherwise have a relatively normal conversation. He wasn't sure how long he was up texting her, but at some point, he eventually drifted off into sleep.

* * *

He was dreaming.

Izuku couldn't move anything but his head and eyes. All he could do was see. His mouth wouldn't open for some reason. He couldn't hear well. It was like sound was coming through one of his ears, but not the other. His surroundings were a roiling, dark sea of changing shapes. It was a barren world that didn't seem to be fully corporeal.

He glanced to his right and found himself looking at a beautiful woman with a tough-looking face. She looked solemn—not quite sorrowful, but certainly stoic. Beside her were six more people, all of which he'd never seen before. At the end of the line was a seventh, wispy shape that was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't get any closer to figure out who it was.

As he twisted his head to look to the left, he froze.

Standing before all of those people and himself were two figures. One was frail and ragged, the other tall and neat. He couldn't make out their faces or hear what they were saying despite clearly seeing their mouths moving in a fierce argument, and yet they were somehow so familiar to him…

And then, quite clearly, he heard a terribly familiar voice boom in his head as though it were said right beside him.

 _"You are_ ** _mine."_**

An abyss opened up beneath him and Izuku's vision began to fade completely into darkness. But before he lost consciousness, another voice—smaller, but strong enough to speak with clarity—whispered into his ear.

 _"We are_ ** _yours."_**

* * *

 **A/N: I told you guys I was gonna get this chapter out sooner! I'm really gonna get the ball rolling now. I'd love to have this arc completed in time for season 4 of the anime to come out, so expect more to come out soon! Also, I'll be publishing another one of my cheesy Viridescent Openings for this arc, but for the first time, you guys get to see some teases for the story that aren't up yet! If you're curious or just want to speculate, you might go check it out!**

 **Another shout out to my betas on the Discord, Author and Aki! Also thanks to our wonderful group of people on the server who never fail to lighten up my day! You guys rock!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	41. Grinding

_Chapter Forty-One: Grinding_

 _She was five years old when she found the little bird dead in the grass of her backyard._

 _She couldn't tell if it had hit the window and broken its neck, or if a predator had wounded the little animal and it escaped only to die. That wasn't important to her toddler self. What was important was the fresh blood coloring the black bird's feathers red._

 _She picked it up to innocently study the color. It was pretty, but more than that it…called to her. Called in a way she'd never experienced before, but felt as though it was the most natural thing in the world. On instinct, she lifted the creature closer to her and opened her mouth—_

 _"_ _Whoa there, sweetie!"_

 _The bird was hastily pulled out of her grasp, but gently enough to avoid hurting her. Still, it startled Himiko out of her brief trance and she jerked her head up to find her father looking down on her. An average-looking man with dark hair and glasses, unexceptional save for the abnormally large canine teeth in his mouth that were a part of his Quirk._

 _Kenta Toga glanced from the dead, bleeding bird now in his hand and back to his daughter before sighing, a sheepish smile lifting his lips a bit. "It called to you, didn't it?"_

 _Himiko nodded, smiling brightly with that childish innocence that belongs to all young things. "Mmhm. The color is so pretty."_

 _"_ _I think so too," Kenta winked at her, prompting his daughter to giggle. He looked back to the bird and let out a breath through his nose. "Figures you'd inherit a mutation of my Quirk. I was hoping your Quirk would be more like your mother's."_

 _He knelt down and held the bird up between them, so Himiko could look at the color again, but Kenta tapped his daughter's forehead with his index finger to gain her attention. "Listen to me, okay sweetie? Don't go trying to suck blood from just anyone or anything. It's not safe for you."_

 _"_ _Why not?" She asked with a pout and a tilt of her head. "It's pretty!"_

 _"_ _Yes, but so is the ocean," Kenta pointed out. "Remember when you tried to drink sea water?"_

 _Himiko scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out. "It was gross!"_

 _"_ _Yes, yes it is," he agreed, smirking at the memory. "And drinking it is bad for you. Fresh water is good, right? It's the same thing with blood. Some kinds of blood might make you sick. Drinking too much can make you sick, too. You have to be smart about it, alright? And remember, making something bleed means it's hurting."_

 _Himiko squeezed her little fists, stomping her foot in obvious warning of an incoming toddler tantrum. "But it's so pretty!"_

 _"_ _Yes, it's pretty," Kenta agreed, patient with his (admittedly spoiled) little girl. "But we've got to be careful with it. So if you want some, tell me first. I still have a friend who works with the blood banks. They helped me out when I was a little older than you to work on controlling my cravings safely. Okay?"_

 _She looked at him suspiciously. "Then I can have some?"_

 _"_ _If you ask me nicely," he smiled at her, twisting his head and putting a finger to his ear. "What's the magic word?"_

 _"_ _Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top?"_

 _Kenta laughed and used his free arm to scoop up his daughter as he stood, planting a kiss on her forehead. "That's my girl."_

Darkness.

Himiko blinked her eyes open and found herself staring at the ceiling of her apartment bedroom. For a few minutes, she just stayed there and drank in the dream while it was still fresh.

It had been ages since she'd last dreamt of her father. Certainly not since she was driven to addiction, a victim of a never-ending dark nightmare following the murder of her parents. She'd almost forgotten what his voice sounded like.

She pondered on the dream—the first time she'd been called to by blood. In her early years, the call was strong. Her father had explained to her that it was a part of her Quirk developing, that it was completely natural, and that they would handle it the same way he handled it as a child. And as she grew, that call had faded, just as he said. By the time she was ten, the call was completely under her control thanks to Kenta's endless patience and experience.

The nightmare began two years later, and she had awoken to a bloodlust and addiction so far out of her control she was sure she'd never know peace again.

And then Izuku.

Blinking, Himiko reached around the bedsheets for her phone and finally found it, unlocking the device with a quick swipe of her finger. It was still on her messages with Izuku. They'd both passed out late into the night, it seemed.

She re-read some of the messages absently and snorted. He was such a dork, talking about heroes and a bunch of other nerdy things. But he was so passionate and excited about it the topic that she couldn't bring herself to interrupt his stream of messages when she asked him something.

They weren't important questions. Just simple, little musings that piqued her curiosity. It had been such an oddly casual conversation, like their situation wasn't as complicated as it was.

She checked the date and a small smile crept up on her face. Five days until she saw him again.

* * *

Momo yelped as she was thrown back and hit the ground hard, the impact stunning her for a moment. Katsuki straightened his posture and took a deep breath as he glanced over at the clock. They'd gone a minute or two overtime, to his surprise—he knew he should've set an alarm. Whoops.

"Okay, that's it for round five," he told Momo, who was still lying on her back and panting. Katsuki walked over to their bags, wiping the sweat from his brow as he grabbed a couple of water bottles and protein bars.

He whistled sharply to gain Momo's attention and when she lifted her head, he tossed the water bottle to her. "Drink up."

"Thanks," she gasped, twisting the cap and taking another second to catch her breath before lifting the bottle to her lips. Katsuki grunted in response and took a long, long draught until his bottle was halfway empty. Once he'd managed to quench his immediate thirst, he tossed her a protein bar, to which she hummed gratefully as she continued to drink.

They were inside TDL, and the area around them was singed and destroyed from their practice spars. Admittedly, most of the damage was courtesy of Katsuki's explosions, but there were a few spots that were absolutely Momo's doing. Both teenagers sported bruises, and once more, though Momo had evidently come out of the fighting worse off, Katsuki still had a few dark spots on him.

She hadn't given him free reign in their spars, no sir.

Katsuki gulped down more water and let out a satisfied sigh as he admired the destruction. "You did better that time."

"Mm?" Momo blinked with the water bottle still at her lips and followed his gaze. Her brow creased somewhat and she swallowed before answering him. "I suppose so. It's still not good enough."

"That's why we're training, sherlock," he pointed out with a snort. She inclined her head silently. When it looked like she was getting lost in thought, he elbowed her lightly to regain her attention and then gestured to the protein bar still untouched at her side. "Eat. You won't be able to keep this up if you don't recover."

"Mm," this time her hum had a dry tune to it, which was complimented by one of her eyebrows rising. She swallowed another gulp of water and then took a breath before speaking. "I need oxygen too, Katsuki. For, you know… _survival reasons_."

He smirked at her sarcasm and she smiled in turn. Training really brought out the bold side of her personality. Not that Momo wasn't bold, but rarely did she let her "rich girl protocol" as Katsuki called it slip up in public.

Combat training made it easy for her ambitious side to come out and compete with the aggressive teenage boy, both striving to improve and constantly vying for dominance. But when their battle ceased, they were able to relax and be open with one another.

Katsuki allowed them to have a slightly longer resting period since they'd gone overtime the last round, but he put his foot down at ten minutes and stood back up. As he set the alarm on his phone, he grunted. "Alright, get up. Let's go again."

Momo nodded and set the water bottle down as she stood and joined him a few meters away from their bags. On reflex now, she made a tiny firecracker and lit the fuse before tossing it a short distance away from them.

They squared off in silence and just a few moments later, the firecracker popped, cuing the start of their spar.

Katsuki was on her in an instant and Momo dove out of the way as an explosion-propelled kick tore through the space where her torso had been a moment earlier. Unperturbed by the near-miss, Katsuki rocketed after her and reached out to fire a blast at her. A shield formed from her arms and absorbed the worst of the attack, but it obscured her vision for a moment and gave her opponent a chance to flank her. She gasped as a hard gauntlet smashed into her left side and sent her sprawling.

He was a relentless sparring partner, and she was grateful for that. It was part of the reason why she'd asked him to help her in the first place. Despite how much she adored her other classmates, she knew they'd probably pause to see if she was okay after taking a hit like that.

Not Katsuki. No, he was as unapologetic and ruthless as a villain, and that kind of battle experience was so much more valuable to her for this kind of training.

Momo knew another blow was already coming, so she sat bolt-upright to meet Katsuki's rush with a raised arm. A bo staff shot out of her palm and almost caught the boy in the face, but he responded by propelling himself out of the way with a small explosion before redirecting himself again to attack.

With the staff in hand, Momo swung at his feet in midair, attempting to knock him off-balance. Her plan was cut short, however, when he simply grabbed the staff and generated a blast powerful enough to shatter it. The force sent her sprawling back again despite staggering to regain her footing.

He would be back on her before she had any chance to get up, so Momo began to create a small cannon at her shoulder. As Katsuki came down, she prepared to create a net that would fire into him when her head suddenly spun.

She heard the blast of an explosion and winced as a boot pinned down one of her hands. The other arm was pinned at the wrist by one of Kastuki's hands and then all she could see was the red glove held open just above her face. The cannon at her shoulder fell uselessly to the ground.

"Dead," Katsuki said quietly.

Momo closed her eyes and took a breath to stop her head spinning. She felt the pressure on her arms let up as Katsuki stepped off and crouched down beside her. "We'll cut this round short. You pushed your Quirk too far."

"I can keep going, I just need a minute," she groaned.

"Would you rather miss sparring tomorrow because you went fuckin' anemic?" Katsuki snapped. "We're done for today. You need to eat now."

When her head failed to stop spinning, Momo reluctantly gave in and nodded slightly. Katsuki huffed and went to their bags to shut off his alarm and grab their drinks. For a moment, she just let her head fall back onto the floor and recovered.

"Here," she felt a water bottle being pushed into her hand and accepted it gratefully. Slowly, she sat up and quenched her thirst. The water helped a little, but it wouldn't fix her current state until she got some food into her system.

"Come on," she opened her eyes to find a hand being held out to her. "Let's go eat. I'm starving."

Nodding, she took the hand and stood up slowly as he pulled her back to her feet.

* * *

By the time they were almost back to the dorms, Momo could hear her stomach growling every few moments, demanding sustenance. And of course Katsuki, with his seemingly endless amusement in driving her crazy, took full advantage of that fact.

After a particularly loud growl courtesy of Momo's stomach, the boy flashed her a mocking grin. _"Wow,_ I think I feel more threatened by your belly than I ever did fighting ya, Ponytail."

"I'm pretty sure I have enough fuel to make a book thick enough to knock you out," Momo threatened, irritable and embarrassed by her exaggerated hunger. Her stomach snarled again in protest of her declaration and her cheeks flushed with heat.

"I think you're more likely to eat me first," Katsuki snickered.

"I have higher standards," was the snippy response.

"Pfft!" Katsuki almost staggered as he snorted with laughter. Momo couldn't help but smirk a bit as well. Their banter felt light and natural. It was nice, she decided.

Upon finally entering their dorm building, Momo made a beeline for the kitchen with Katsuki right beside her. He paused, however, upon seeing a familiar head of white and red already working there. Putting on his finest scowl, Katsuki growled at the other teen who had yet to notice them. "Move it, icy-hot. I'm using the kitchen now."

Shoto turned to look at his classmates and simply blinked. "That's fine. I just finished up."

Momo observed the results of Shoto's cooking curiously, which was a simple platter of cookies. "What flavor are they?"

"Just chocolate chip. I was going to bring some to my mom. Want to try one?"

Normally, Momo's "rich girl protocol" would refuse since the treats were intended to be a gift for Shoto's mother, but in her starved state, she almost couldn't keep herself from drooling. "I would love to."

Shoto glanced at Katsuki in turn. "What about you?"

"Hell no, I need actual food," Katsuki scoffed, making his way to the pantry to yank the door open. "And so do you, Ponytail! Don't stuff your face with those things!"

Momo puffed up her cheek in indignation and took a bite of her cookie, opting to ignore him. She'd eat whatever she so pleased, thank you very much. But she would not be "stuffing her face" as Katsuki so eloquently put it. She was more professional than that.

Barely taking a moment to chew on the cookie, she swallowed it and faced Shoto. "So, how's your Provisional License Training going? You've been going to the lessons every afternoon, haven't you?"

"Yeah," Shoto nodded, setting the plate of cookies to the side for the time being. "Gang Orca's been running us ragged, but it's going well. My old man was there the other day, though."

His face scrunched up at the mention of Endeavor and they both heard a huff as Katsuki filled a large pot with water from the tap. "That bastard is on his feet again, huh? I was hoping he'd been put out of commission."

"Language, Katsuki," Momo rebutted. Katsuki only scoffed in response, but she ignored it. "Endeavor's recovered from the Kamino Incident, then?"

"Yeah," Shoto confirmed, shrugging. "He's been oddly quiet about the whole thing. He was really angry after getting pulverized by Heat Viper and when All Might announced his retirement, but lately he's been less…well, himself, I guess. I'm not sure if I like him being so quiet or not."

"It was a big deal," Momo pointed out, taking another bite of her cookie and once again barely bothering to chew it. "Because of All Might's retirement, he's the number one hero now."

Shoto's face became pensive. "We'll see if it lasts…"

"What do you mean?"

The sound of a bag being torn open made them both flinch and jerk their gazes over to Katsuki, who was now pouring shell noodles into the pot of water as it rose to a boil. "What he means is his old man might not be number one for long. The asshat—"

"Language!"

"—doesn't deserve the second spot to begin with just for his attitude," Katsuki snarled, glaring at the water as if willing it to heat up faster with his irritation. "But he got his teeth kicked in at Kamino, while Best Jeanist and Edgeshot did a lot more in terms of combat and rescue. Jeanist is probably more likely to get the number one spot when the rankings are updated in a few weeks."

Shoto nodded slowly. "…Yeah. Endeavor was seen as a casualty of the incident more so than one of the participating heroes. Of course, people were sympathetic to him, but a lot more supported Edgeshot and Best Jeanist for their roles during the battle and the rescue efforts afterwards."

"I see…" Momo finished her cookie and looked at the floor in contemplation. "Is that realistic, though?"

"What're ya talking about?" Katsuki grunted, adjusting the temperature of the burner.

"It's just…" She pursed her lips in thought. "In terms of a "symbol" like All Might, Endeavor might be more viable than someone like Jeanist or Edgeshot."

Katsuki's hand twisted the burner to max heat as he jerked his head around to stare at her in disbelief. "The fuck?!"

"LANGUAGE!"

"How the hell is that bastard more of a hero than Jeanist or Edgeshot?!" Katsuki snapped back incredulously.

"I didn't say he was more of a hero," Momo replied calmly. "It's true insofar that Jeanist and Edgeshot are certainly in better standings with the public than Endeavor is by a significant margin. And of course I support them more than Endeavor—Best Jeanist is the reason Katsuki and Izuku came out of that conflict in one piece. But when I compare them to All Might…I just don't see them being capable of taking up his mantle. They're excellent faces of Hero Society for the public, but they're just…I don't know, missing something. I'm not praising him, but Endeavor has a lot more drive than they do. Do you understand what I mean?"

Katsuki huffed and turned back to his noodles, stirring them with a wooden spoon as he thought about it. "What you're saying is they're missing that "spark" All Might had. They don't have the same charisma? And Endeavor does?"

"Certainly not the same as All Might's," Momo shook her head. "But he's a driven man, and the Hero Society right now is trying to "move forward" following All Might's retirement. He kind of fits that image more than Edgeshot or Best Jeanist. I agree with you that he's…less than ideal from a personality standpoint. No offense."

She directed that last bit at Shoto, who just shrugged. "I'm in the same boat as you. He's a jerk."

"But maybe for the time being, Hero Society might need someone like him to just keep things moving until the next "Symbol of Peace" appears to fill in the gap All Might left," Momo finished. "Does that make sense?"

Shoto looked down at his plate of cookies. "I suppose it does, a little."

"Screw that guy, just throw in someone else at the top!" Katsuki growled, stirring the noodles more angrily.

Momo sighed. Yeah, that was one opinion she wouldn't be changing.

She was suddenly aware that her stomach felt bad. Really, _really_ bad. Not in a hungry way, but in a nauseous way. In a I-am-going-to-vomit-in-three-seconds-and-I-can-feel-it-coming bad. "Oh. Oh dear, I…"

She bolted for the nearby bathroom and both of the boys stopped as she threw the door open, and then moments later they heard her throwing up the cookie Shoto had made.

"What the hell did you put in those fucking cookies, icy-hot?!" Katsuki roared. "Did you just give her food poisoning?!"

Shoto looked at the cookies dubiously. "I'm pretty sure I made them right…"

"How the fuck are you so goddamn smart sometimes and so goddamn stupid at others!? Throw those fuckin' things into the trash, now!"

* * *

Izuku held his chin as he walked with an absent expression. His mind was still wracked with thoughts of his dream the night before.

One of those voices definitely belonged to All for One, he knew. He'd never forget the sound of it for as long as he lived. That worried him plenty on its own, but he was also wondering who the other people had been. This dream had vaguely reminded him of the incident during the Sports Festival, when Hitoshi had brainwashed him and he'd glimpsed the vestiges of One for All.

But this was different. It had been more advanced and the vestiges had seemed so…so _real_. If he had been able to move, could he have actually interacted with them? The stranger who had spoken to him after All for One seemed capable of interacting with Izuku, that was for sure…

All Might had told him that the vestiges weren't able to actually physically intervene with them, so what had happened?

"Don't look so grim, freshman!"

Izuku yelped as Mirio slapped him on the back hard enough to almost knock him off-balance. The older teen was grinning widely as he led his underclassman to the support department, both of them donning their hero costumes. "You'll scare the citizens if you make a face like that on the streets!"

"S-sorry!" Izuku stammered, fumbling in place as he tried to recover.

"So, have you thought about what changes you want to make to your costume?" Mirio prompted.

"A little," he admitted, lifting his right hand to study it intently. "But truthfully, I'm not really sure what I should do. Sir Nighteye told me to work on power and precision, but it's hard to do that with Pyroclasm. I'm not sure if I can really make it precise because of how it explodes, and power is something that I'm just going to have to work on."

"Hmm," Mirio cocked his head back to regard the ceiling as they reached the door to the Support Department. "Maybe you're approaching this the wrong way? I think I've got an idea that might help you out. We'll talk with Power Loader about it and see what his thoughts are."

"What is it?"

The answer was cut off by the sound of something exploding, causing Izuku to jump and Mirio to slip into the floor. His upperclassman popped back up to ground level with a laugh. "That was unexpected! I fell down for a moment!"

Izuku eyed the door warily as Mirio fearlessly opened it, releasing a cloud of smoke from within the room. They could hear someone coughing for a few moments, and then Power Loader's voice reached them.

"Mei! Haven't I said it a million times?! Stop testing explosives in here!"

"Haha! That time was legitimately an accident! I think I crossed the wires by mistake!"

"That doesn't sound convincing!"

Izuku waved away the smoke with his hand as he finally found Power Loader scowling at Mei at the closest work bench. As per usual, the inventive girl looked utterly unperturbed by the impromptu explosion that was undoubtedly her doing.

Power Loader caught sight of Izuku and Mirio, turning away from Mei with an exasperated sigh. "Clean up your mess, Mei. It looks like I'm going to be busy for a bit."

"Costume upgrades?!" Mei queried excitedly, attempting to rush up to Izuku and Mirio before Power Loader caught her by the back of her shirt with his mech-glove. "Release me!"

"No," Power Loader deadpanned. "Clean up your mess first and I might allow you to participate if they're here for costume upgrades. Get to it."

That was apparently all Mei needed, because as soon as she was set loose, she darted to the work bench and began a mad scramble to collect all the debris her explosive had scattered. Power Loader shook his head in fond exasperation at his student.

"Right," he muttered, turning back to Izuku and Mirio. "What can I do for you?"

Izuku went about explaining his predicament to the teacher, who listened in silence most of the time and occasionally interjected with a question of his own, mostly in regards to how Izuku's Quirk worked in different ways. At the end of that lengthy discussion, Power Loader hummed in thought.

"It's certainly possible to come up with some kind of gear that will help your control," he admitted. "That on its own isn't overly difficult. In terms of power output, I'm afraid that's something you'll have to work on by yourself, but we can definitely come up with something to help you focus and channel Pyroclasm into something more precise. Did you have any thoughts regarding how the gear should be designed?"

"Not exactly," Izuku replied, frowning slightly as he lifted one of his hands to regard it. "My main problem is that using Pyroclasm requires me to be touching something in order to trigger the shockwave. I can do it by clapping my hands, but I'm not sure how I could focus it like that."

"I think I might have a solution to that, greenhorn," Mirio interjected. "Or at least a starting point. If we're going to be designing equipment based on your Pyroclasms, maybe we should look into something similar to Nejire's gauntlets?"

Izuku considered that for a moment. Nejire's Pulse Gauntlets were designed to help control and direct the energy pulses she created. They were similar to Katsuki's own Grenade Gauntlets, but less bulky. Even so though…

"I don't think I need something exactly like that," Izuku began. "I can really only use Pyroclasm from my hands. I don't need something quite that bulky."

"That's true, but you'll need something to help aim it and absorb the recoil effects," Mirio pointed out. "You can't use it if it knocks you on your butt every time!"

"How do I even aim it if I'm clapping my hands every time?"

"Hold that thought," Power Loader interrupted. "Do you need to clap your hands, or do your hands just need to be pressed against something to trigger the blast wave?"

Izuku blinked and thought about that. "Um…I mean, maybe my hands just need to be pressing against something? I'm not sure…"

Hisashi had been able to do something like that, he realized, but Izuku was uncomfortable comparing their abilities like that out loud. He couldn't quite bring himself to voice it.

"Hmm," Power Loader tapped his finger against one of the work tables in thought. "Mei!"

"Yes, sir?!" Mei practically teleported to their side in an instant, eliciting a yelp from Izuku and a bemused smile from Mirio.

"Give me a piece of junk you don't mind losing."

"Yes, sir!"

She vanished and came back immediately with a hunk of scrap in her hands. Power Loader had her set it on the table and then jabbed his finger at the steel. "Take a shot at it."

"Wh-what?" Izuku squeaked.

"Don't blow up my lab, but try using your Pyroclasm at low power with just one hand," Power Loader elaborated.

Izuku stood there, frozen in place for a few moments. "Are you sure? I mean, this Quirk is um…"

"I'm fully aware of how destructive it is," the mechanic said dryly. "But I also know that you've been ordered to take it easy by Recovery Girl, and I know you won't go over your limit if only to keep the old lady from getting pissed off at you."

He blanched at the thought. "Yes, sir."

His meek voice had Mirio laughing. The upperclassman gave Izuku an easygoing pat on the shoulder. "You got this, greenhorn!"

Mei was just watching with uncomfortable intensity as Izuku walked up to the piece of scrap and set one of his hands on it. Swallowing, he activated his Overdrive mode and concentrated hard. He'd only used Pyroclasm a few times before, but maybe…

He felt the familiar tremble in his arm as the intense heat and power build up, vibrating with energy before he let it loose and it exploded into the scrap at point-blank range. Izuku yelped as he was thrown back a bit, but he managed to stagger and keep his footing. The scrap, meanwhile, was launched off the table by the blast of intense green plasma and crashed into the floor.

"S-sorry!" Izuku yelped, holding his arm and massaging the uncomfortable tingling feeling away. It was kind of similar to when his arm fell asleep. Fortunately, it was already fading.

"Don't be sorry, that was pretty much what I expected," Power Loader replied, walking around the table to study the damage. He hummed in thought. "Looks like you can do it this way, but you'll need something to be capable of triggering a blast at range. I'll tinker with some stuff and call you when I've got a prototype ready."

He blinked in surprise. "Just like that? You don't need anything else?"

"Kid, I've been doing this for a long time," the mechanic said, hefting the piece of scrap in his hands to observe it more closely. "I can manage with that example. Go on, go do whatever else you need to get done today. Leave us to tinker."

Mirio set a hand on Izuku's shoulder and began to guide him away. "You heard him, time to train, greenhorn!"

As soon as they were out of the studio, Mei was at Power Loader's side. "Can I help? Please, please, please?"

"Mmhm," Power Loader grunted. "Go grab me some of our shock-absorption materials. Narrow it down to what can manage extreme heat and what can't."

"Yes, sir!" Mei darted off to go do her teacher's bidding as Power Loader regarded the mangled piece of steel.

And the deep, searing puncture caused by the point-blank blast.

* * *

Mirio escorted Izuku straight to the gym for their sparring practice once they were done with the Support Department. Upon arriving, he got them their own combat room and shut the door behind them.

"Right!" Mirio began, grinning fiercely. "Sir wants you to be up to snuff from a physical standpoint. You're in good shape, but we've gotta work on your power output and your speed. We'll worry about practicing your Pyroclasm and ranged attacks later, greenhorn—for now, let's just get you moving! I want you to be pushing your limits the whole time!"

Izuku nodded. "What are the rules?"

"Basically anything goes—just within reason. Don't go trying to break your arms or blow the ceiling off, obviously," Mirio smirked. "But don't take it so easy that you're not driving yourself to improve. I won't be going all out quite yet, but I won't make this easy for ya. If you start to slack off, I'll give you a little kick-start to get you back into gear!"

Somehow, Izuku had the oddest feeling that the "kick-start" Mirio mentioned would literally involve a kick.

Shaking that thought from his head, he crouched and narrowed his eyes. "When can I start?"

Mirio spread his arms out to either side and smirked. "Do heroes and villains wait for someone to say, 'go'?!"

The younger boy grinned at that and shook his head before lunging at his upperclassman. Overdrive blazed to life around him as he immediately started to push that 5% limit he'd been working at from the very beginning.

His first strike phased through Mirio due to his (relative) slowness. Lumillion grinned at his partner over his shoulder. "Faster, freshman!"

 _Yes,_ Izuku thought, furrowing his brow in concentration. _Faster!_

He lunged again, pushing himself to move even quicker than before. Mirio actively dodged this time, showing off his own incredible physical condition. Izuku twisted on his heel and rushed after him.

He threw a right hook at Mirio, who leaned back with practiced ease and ducked down to slam a punch into Izuku's sternum. The younger boy gasped and staggered back from the force of the blow. It hadn't been nearly as vicious as the first time Mirio had struck him at Sir's office, but it was certainly powerful enough to make him back off.

"I'm not gonna be your punching bag, greenhorn," Mirio grinned at him dangerously. "The villains won't let you do what you want without a fight, and neither will I!"

Blood roared in Izuku's ears as he was swept up into the fight. His brain went on autopilot to analyze the battle as it unfolded, rushing to take Mirio head-on.

The two of them engaged in a swift and furious bout of punches and kicks. Though Izuku was throwing the most attacks into the fray, Mirio easily handled his underclassman by redirecting, dodging, and countering each and every blow thrown at him. It was getting harder as time went on, though, and Izuku began to try different moves each time. Even then, however, Mirio's undeniable skill simply outplayed his younger partner. He had seen it all before and was more than capable of manhandling Izuku's lesser combat abilities.

 _He's too experienced_ , Izuku reminded himself grimly, forcing his frustration down. _I'm not going to be able to take him down with my own skills. I've got to hit him faster than he can respond! C'mon, I can go faster!_

He was pushing One for All to his 5% limit and trying to force his way past it. 5% hadn't been remotely enough to handle Muscular or Hisashi. It wasn't enough to handle Mirio, and it certainly wouldn't be enough to carry him through the battles he'd face in the future. So he pushed and pushed to go faster, to hit harder, and eventually, something changed.

Izuku pushed off with his foot to lunge at Mirio, but his acceleration suddenly shot up and he reached his target faster than he anticipated. Both of them were surprised by the speed boost, but they each responded in time. Izuku swung a fist at Mirio, who caught the blow and then leaned down to catch Izuku's chest on his shoulder. Straightening rapidly, he threw his underclassman over his back and into the air.

Izuku managed to regain his aerial stability and spun to land on his feet, backtracking to keep his balance. Mirio regarding his younger partner with a grin.

"Almost got me there, greenhorn!" Lumillion was grinning widely. "But not enough, yet!"

 _Yes,_ Izuku silently agreed, his smile growing fiercer as he crouched in preparation to charge again. _Not enough, yet!_

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for how late this is! I meant to get it out faster, but life had other plans. I've been super busy, but the good news is Summer is finally here, so I should have some more time to write!**

 **As you may have all noticed, Viridescent has a new cover page! The art was done by Destiny Hoodie, who you can find on Tumblr and Twitter amongst other places! He's an incredible artist and I highly recommend you guys check him out! If nothing else, thank him for providing us with such an awesome cover page! I might commission more from him for Viridescent if you guys give him enough love!**

 **The Viridescent Discord server is growing and is an awesome place for all MHA fans! If you want to join, just send me a PM and I'll get back to you ASAP!**

 **This chapter is a bit shorter than I had originally planned, but this should let me get the next chapter out a bit sooner. Just bear with me, guys! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	42. Hunting Dog

_Chapter Forty-Two: Hunting Dog_

Izuku glanced out the window and squinted at the fading light of the sun as the car pulled up to the apartment complex where Himiko was staying. Tsukauchi had driven them there a few hours after school had ended for his next meet-up with with her, which was supposed to happen at seven; five minutes from now. He had been only slightly reassured by the information Nighteye had given them—knowing they weren't walking into a trap was good, but it was still like waltzing into the lion's den.

As soon as Tsukauchi parked, the detective turned around in his seat to look at Izuku. The expression on his face was serious. "Remember what I said, Izuku. No matter how this goes, you do exactly as I say. This is Himiko's best chance, but we either do it right, or not at all. Are we in agreement?"

Izuku nodded. "Yes, sir."

Tsukauchi grabbed a backpack from his passenger seat and hefted it over one shoulder after he removed the keys from the ignition. "I brought medical supplies in case we need them—it sounds like you usually do. There's also a change of clothes in here for you in case things get messy."

The boy unbuckled his seat belt and looked out the door. "It's only serious when she's in a really bad way. When she's settled, it's more like she, um…snacks?"

Tsukauchi snorted bluntly. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose. Alright, let's go."

They left the car and entered the building, Tsukauchi following Izuku to the apartment Himiko resided in. Ensuring they were alone in the hallway, Izuku knocked on the door.

A few moments of silence later and the door opened a bit to reveal Himiko smiling brightly. "Hey, Izu! You're—oh."

She paused and instantly grew tense at the sight of Tsukauchi, her eyes darting from him to Izuku with some suspicion. Izuku was quick to raise his hands up in a placating gesture. "It's okay, he's a friend. He's not here to capture you. I promise."

Himiko's gaze shifted back to Tsukauchi and she watched him for a bit longer before nodding slowly and letting them both in. She was quiet and Izuku knew it was because she was in fight or flight mode, considering all her options on the off-chance Tsukauchi was actually here to capture her.

"Is Kurogiri around?" Izuku asked.

"…Not right now," she answered, still watching Tsukauchi with no small amount of wariness. "But he's not far if I need him."

"I can assure you that won't be necessary," Tsukauchi said in an effort to reassure her. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Naomasa Tsukauchi. I'm a police detective."

"A police detective," Himiko's gaze narrowed further in suspicion. "And what exactly are you _doing_ here?"

"I'm just here to ensure Izuku is safe," he answered. "Kurogiri is fulfilling a similar role, isn't he?"

"S'pose so," she muttered.

Izuku decided it was best to separate the two before Himiko became too unnerved by Tsukauchi's presence. "Hey, how about we go to your room?"

She nodded somewhat stiffly and was quick to take his wrist and pull Izuku away. He knew Tsukauchi wouldn't argue in this instance because it gave him the opportunity to scout out the apartment—Katsuki had done the same not long ago, but he wasn't a detective.

Himiko shut the door behind them and locked it for good measure. Her posture was more intense thanks to her agitated state, but Izuku took it all in stride. He'd seen her much worse than this.

His shirt came off and hadn't even hit the floor before she pounced on him, taking some of the aggression out of her system as her teeth pierced the skin between his neck and shoulder. Izuku winced and held on to her as the blood flowed and she began to calm.

* * *

Ten minutes later and he was sitting on the edge of the bed, dazed and feeling a little exhausted, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the last time. Himiko had detached from his skin and was catching her breath in front of him, a trail of red at the corner of her mouth. Sated and relaxed, she leaned forward to rest her head on his unmarked shoulder.

"You could've told me you were bringing someone along," she muttered, but there was less heat in her tone. She seemed disappointed more than anything now. "I thought it was going to be just us."

"I'm sorry," he apologized sincerely. "I would have if I could, but things got kind of complicated after the last time."

"How?"

Izuku tentatively explained to her about how All Might had met with All for One, how he and Tsukauchi were friends and that they'd pulled him and Katsuki aside after his last meeting with Himiko to tell them about it. How All for One had claimed responsibility for what had happened to Himiko, and that he'd wanted Izuku to meet with her before either of them had the same idea.

"Katsuki and I decided it might be worth the risk to see if they could help us," he went on. "I can help you with this, but I want you to be free and…I couldn't do that on my own. So we told them about meeting with you and Tsukauchi said he'd come along this time to see what we could do."

Himiko was quiet for a short while as she took all that in. She leaned a little further into him until she was sitting on the bed right next to Izuku. "I can understand that, I guess. Can I assume that if he decides I'm not able to be saved, he'll call the heroes on me?"

Izuku bit his lip tightly for a few moments. "Probably."

"And I'll bet your hands are tied if he makes that decision," she sighed, shaking her head a bit.

"I wouldn't have brought them into this if I thought there was another way," he replied quietly. "All Might thinks there's a chance, and he trusts Tsukauchi a lot. This might be our best chance."

"Your hero worshipping is gonna bite you in the ass one day," Himiko muttered. "But enough about that. You said All for One was responsible for…what happened to me."

"That's what he claimed," Izuku said a little slowly. "I don't know a lot about what happened, but Tsukauchi apparently knew your parents as well. He said he met you when you were little. Do you remember any of that?"

Himiko pulled back a ways, enough for Izuku to see her eyes getting glassy as dark memories were dragged to the forefront of her mind. He backtracked quickly, suddenly remembering that this was a bad topic for her. "I'm sorry, you don't have to—"

"My daddy probably knew him," she began softly. "I don't remember Tsukauchi myself, though. I don't know about All for One, either…Everything that happened after I was taken is a blur."

"You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to," he tried to assure her. "I shouldn't have brought it up like that."

"I'll tell you," she said, surprising him. "But not yet. I'm not ready for that. Someday I'll tell you what I can remember, but right now I just can't. Besides, I wanted to have fun tonight, not talk about this."

"I know," he told her quietly. "Let's focus on that instead. What did you want to do? You mentioned going out into the city last week."

Himiko brightened somewhat and she grinned at him. "Well, it's been a while since I got to go out into the city and just mess around for the heck of it…So I'm dragging you out to the mall for a couple of hours before they close!"

Izuku blinked at the declaration. It wasn't a particularly odd idea and he was okay with it. Katsuki always told him that being dragged out to the mall by his mother was the worst thing ever, but whenever Inko took Izuku out there to get some shopping done it wasn't that bad. Then again, he'd never been to the mall with anyone but his mother. How bad could it be?

There was just one problem.

"How are we supposed to get you in there without someone recognizing you from a wanted poster?" Izuku asked with a frown.

"I've got that covered," she hummed in a sing-song voice, standing up and spinning around to face him as a cheeky smile curved her lips up. "Watch!"

She seemed to focus for a few moments and as Izuku watched, the color of her hair slowly changed from the roots of her honey blonde hair and bled into jet-black. His jaw dropped in fascination when the irises of her eyes changed to a robin's-egg blue. She reached up to undo the buns on the side of her head and with her hair now freely falling to her shoulders, she looked like a completely different person.

Well, upon closer inspection he realized that her facial features hadn't changed, but at a glance nobody would suspect who she was unless they were actively looking for her.

"How did you do that?" He asked, utterly fascinated by even that minor transformation. He'd had no idea she was capable of this. "Did you have blood earlier, or can you actively do that whenever you want? Or can you use any blood as fuel to change however you want? No, that wouldn't make sense because then you could change into anyone as soon as you had a blood source. So it's limited to minor changes? Was it something you had to work on over time, or something you can do innately with your Quirk? If it's limited to just minor changes, does it have a time limit, or can you hold it indefinite—"

His mumble storm came to an end as Himiko placed a hand over his mouth, staring at him with utter surprise and confusion in her pale blue eyes. "Whoa, whoa, slow down! I can't process that many questions at once!"

Izuku realized he'd totally started to nerd out over her Quirk and immediately covered his face with his hands, feeling heat surge to the surface of his skin. "Sorry! Sorry, I got carried away!"

She watched him try to curl up into a singularity of embarrassment for a few moments before snorting, amused. "You're such a weirdo. I didn't know you were so interested in Quirks."

"It's a habit," he said weakly, his voice muffled as he talked into his hands. "I love trying to work out how Quirks operate because I always wanted to be a hero…"

"Nerd," she teased, tapping his forehead with a finger playfully. "Come on, let's go tell your detective friend that we're leaving."

Izuku nodded and took a deep breath to make his blush go away before he stood up and followed Himiko to the door.

Tsukauchi was waiting in the kitchen and looked up as they walked back in. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Izuku and the boy tried not to think of how red his face probably was. Granted, Tsukauchi was much less focused on Izuku as he was the girl ahead of him.

The detective blinked with an incredulous expression. "Himiko? Is that you?"

"Do I look like someone else?" She smirked at him.

Tsukauchi stared at her in surprise before frowning. "A partial transformation…but you didn't try to change into Izuku. How…?"

She shrugged lazily. "I've always been able to do it. It's not hard."

"…? That's not in your Quirk registration. It's nothing like your father's Quirk. It reminds me of your mother's."

Her smirk dropped and she frowned slightly. "My Quirk is a mutation of my dad's. Don't start freaking out about it."

"My apologies," Tsukauchi shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. He studied them for a moment before raising a brow. "Are you two going somewhere?"

"The mall!" Himiko told him cheerily. Tsukauchi opened his mouth, but she waved him off. "Yes, yes, we'll be careful. It's just for a couple of hours. You can come so long as you aren't hanging over us the whole time."

The detective shot Izuku a look and he shrugged in response. It was probably a good thing to get Himiko out in the world again, even if Tsukauchi might not necessarily agree. The man seemed to repress a sigh before giving them both a stern look. "It's seven-twenty right now. You're not to be out later than ten. I'll allow you some freedom and won't be with you the whole time, but I'll be tailing you. If you try to give me the slip, this won't happen again."

Himiko pouted, but she acquiesced. "Fine. Be that way."

Izuku cracked a smile at the free-spirited girl, but he schooled his features again a moment later and followed her lead. "We'll grab a train. It'll be a quick ride, the shopping district's not that far away."

"Before you go anywhere," Tsukauchi interrupted and approached the boy. "I need to check Izuku's wound."

Himiko rolled her eyes. "Be quick. We don't have all night."

The detective sighed, but approached Izuku and carefully pulled his shirt's collar to the side to inspect the bite wound. It wasn't nearly as severe as the last time, but he cleaned it with an alcohol wipe and put a bandage on it nonetheless. Tsukauchi wasn't sure if he was impressed or concerned when Izuku barely reacted to the cold burn of the alcohol. The poor kid had been through way more serious injuries than this all too often.

Izuku looked a little tired after losing blood, but he was still game to go out and spend time with Himiko, though it would be best if he didn't get too active.

"Get yourselves something to eat and drink when you get there," Tsukauchi told him. "If you feel nauseous or light-headed, sit down and text me. You already made arrangements to spend the night with your mother, yes?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I told her I'd be going out with some friends and that I'd swing by to sleep over with her and Eri."

Tsukauchi nodded, satisfied with the response. "Good. I can drive you back to U.A if necessary. Ideally, however, I'd prefer for things to go according to plan."

"Yes, sir."

The detective offered both teenagers a hesitant smile. "Off with you, then. I'll drive to the mall and find you both there."

"About time," Himiko grumbled in exasperation before grinning excitedly. "C'mon, Izu!"

She grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of the apartment, causing him to yelp and stumble as he tried to catch up with her. Tsukauchi followed them, glancing once more into the room with slight wariness before he closed the door behind him.

* * *

Izuku had always thought the term "shopping with girls" was exaggerated. His mother had never been a so-called "shopaholic" and he'd actually enjoyed going out to see all the different things for sale at the mall. Granted, he only ever bought clothes or hero merchandise, or some combination thereof, but he did like to just window shop sometimes.

Apparently there was a massive difference between shopping with his mother and shopping with a teenage girl.

As soon as they got the mall and grabbed something to eat, (He barely even remembered what it was. Chicken, maybe?) she was running him around the place, exploring places in a whirlwind of energy. He supposed she was excited to get out and about in public for the first time in who-knew-how-long with someone else to experience that with her, so at first he'd been having a good time. They'd done some window shopping for the first thirty minutes just to see what was around. That had been entertaining for both of them.

Then Himiko got over her initial excitement and her mischievous side came out.

They dropped by a store that featured a bunch of Halloween costumes on sale just for the fun of it. Izuku was immediately drawn to the superhero costumes featuring old Marvel and DC characters from America. He loved those old-timey fictional heroes, before Quirks had emerged.

He may or may not still have an Infinity Gauntlet stashed in his closet.

"Rahh!" He jumped as a pair of golden dragon jaws (concealing hands in their maws) latched onto his shoulders from behind. Izuku spun around and found himself staring at Himiko donning the top half of a King Ghidorah costume. She snickered at him, flashing sharp teeth from behind the kaiju fangs around her face. Her hands playfully snapped the other two sets of jaws at him. "It's too bad you can't breathe fire. You'd make a good Godzilla!"

Izuku snorted and eyed the Godzilla costume next to the rest of the King Ghidorah set. There were several different versions based on the various concepts of Godzilla over the years, as well as a number of other kaiju outfits. "I don't think I've got the right attitude for it."

She shrugged and went about removing the Ghidorah costume. "What kind of costume do you think suits me?"

Izuku pondered that for a few moments. "Um…a vampire?"

She gave him a deadpan look. "A vampire."

"Not a vampire?" He tried again helplessly. "I mean, you've got pretty sharp teeth and you could work that into a costume if you decided to get one. I use fire and that would've worked out pretty well for that Ghost Rider costume Katsuki told me to get when we were kids, but I was too scared to actually use my fire and got a Spider Man costume instead. Something with sharp teeth would suit you to make the costume work better, so maybe an animal like a cat of some kind or—"

His mumble storm was put to an end as Himiko placed a finger against his lips, shutting him down. Izuku paused as her eyes gleamed with amusement. "Maybe we can look into it more some other time. C'mon, let's go check out some other stuff."

They left the costume store and set about exploring some different places, working through the shopping center at a steady pace. It wasn't that bad, Izuku thought to himself. He was kind of enjoying himself, actually.

Himiko suddenly stopped in the middle of the walkway and flashed him a grin that looked far too gleeful for his liking. Izuku blinked at her and smiled back hesitantly. "Wh-what?"

"I need an opinion on something," she told him, sniggering already. She grasped his wrist again and hauled him towards a…Izuku's eyes bulged as he realized what it was—a lingerie shop.

"Uh, um, I uh," he began to stammer in a panic. "I'm uh, I don't know a-anything about th-that stuff. I c-can't really h-help."

She gave him a wide-eyed, sad look that made made his stomach drop. There was absolutely nothing actually sad about it and he knew it from the gleam in her blue eyes. "Please? Just a few minutes?"

Oh gods, there was no escape. His doom was nigh.

Izuku felt like he was about to explode as she cheerfully led him _into_ the shop (that felt like he was committing a grave sin to begin with) and to a section that was apparently of interest to her. It felt like anywhere he looked would make him look like a dirty pervert to the rest of the casual shoppers in there, all of which were women with the exception of one other guy that had clearly been dragged in by his apparent girlfriend. The other male shot Izuku a grim look that didn't make him feel any better at all.

This was purgatory, he was sure of it.

"Hmm," Himiko hummed absently, perfectly aware of what this was doing to him and enjoying every second of it if the huge grin on her face said anything. She studied some of the sets before picking one that was completely black and holding it out in front of her as she turned to face him. "What about this one?"

Izuku's eyes slowly fell to the set she was holding in front of her body and later he would realize with horror that his overly-analyzing brain was capable of betraying him.

The set wasn't anything fancy, but the simplicity of the black fabric didn't take away from its appeal. He knew that particular color would look good against Himiko's pale skin, much more so than the school outfit she wore most of the time. But then, that outfit was meant to be professional. This was certainly _not_ meant to be professional, but then that was kind of the point. There was a lace fringe…

…that snapped him out of his analysis and reminded him what he was actually looking at. Izuku had to fight to keep his face from igniting and covered his eyes, practically whining through his hands. "I-I-thinki-its-suitsy-y-you!"

She snorted at his rushed response and couldn't even hide how much she was giggling. Himiko put the set back and made a mental note of it. "So maybe that one. Let's see…ah, how about this?"

Izuku's brain tortured him with an analysis of two more sets (one red and the other purple and black) before Himiko took pity on him and let him escape. He almost scrambled to get out of the place, feeling like he was actually about to have a complete meltdown in the middle of the mall. As it was, he sat down on a bench and took a few minutes to release the surge of heat in his cheeks. He caught a few odd looks, probably because of how utterly scarlet his face was.

By the time he realized Himiko wasn't with him, he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up. She was smirking down at him with a bag over her shoulder. He blushed furiously when he realized she'd actually bought a set from the store. His brain automatically wondered which one she'd chosen before he mashed down those thoughts and banished them to the shadow realm.

"Sorry," she apologized, not looking sorry at all. "I couldn't resist. You're cute when you get all red and flustered."

That only served to make him redden again and sputter helplessly before she grinned and hauled him to his feet. "C'mon, let's go check out another place. I promise it won't be as bad."

* * *

Himiko led him to a clothing shop for teenagers next, and this place was much more comfortable for Izuku. As they entered the shop, he caught sight of Tsukauchi buying a cup of coffee at a shop across the aisle. The detective casually waved at him before turning to pay the barista.

"Alright, it's your turn!" Himiko told him, turning to grin at the boy.

Izuku blinked at her. "Huh?"

"Your turn," she repeated, smirking playfully. She looked him up and down for a moment. "You look like you wouldn't know properly-fitting clothes if they hit you in the face. I can see that you enjoy your lazy clothes, but you are in _dire_ need of something that actually fits you."

He blinked again. "Like what?"

"Just leave it to me," she told him before leading her companion towards some of the t-shirts for boys. "Do you need Quirk Wear?"

"Yeah, Fireproof," Izuku replied.

Quirk Wear was just the casual term for clothing designed specifically for certain Quirk types. More often than not, you could find clothing for just about anyone to suit their Quirk, but depending on how unique one's Quirk was, it was still possible that you might have to order clothing tailored specifically for you. That was pretty rare though, nowadays.

Fortunately for Izuku, fire Quirks were pretty common, and most clothing shops had fireproof variants for those people. Pretty much every single piece of clothing he owned was fireproof to some extent, though none of his outfits were nearly as fire-resistant as his Hero Costume.

"You'd think I'd remember that given what your Quirk is," Himiko hummed to herself as she skimmed though some of the clothing options. Eventually, she plucked a simple black t-shirt from one of the racks and held it out to Izuku. "We'll see how that looks on you."

Izuku took the shirt and blinked as he held it up. "I think it's too small."

"Small by your standards is probably a good fit to everyone else," she smirked. She wondered for a moment if she should turn that into a dirty joke, but figured she'd probably tormented the poor guy enough for one day. Perhaps later.

They looked through a couple more shirts and eventually Himiko guided Izuku to the back of the store where the changing rooms were located and insisted he try them on. As the door closed behind him, she took a moment to try and remember the last time she'd had this much fun. It was a rare treat for her to enjoy something as casual and entertaining as this little venture of theirs.

Maybe she'd have to drag Izuku out like this more often…

"Th-this feels kind of tight…"

Himiko was drawn from her thoughts by Izuku's voice behind the door. She called back. "That's called a good fit. C'mon out, let me see!"

"Okay," he replied before pushing the door open.

He was wearing the plain black t-shirt she'd picked out first, and as Himiko expected, it fit him just right…

She had all of three seconds to take in how good it looked on him before heat blossomed over her cheeks.

Because not only did it fit him well, it fit him very, _very_ well. Logically, she knew Izuku was in fantastic shape due to his rigorous training to become a hero, and she'd seen him shirtless before, but this felt different somehow—more teasing, in a way. The way the shirt hugged his chest and torso and _arms_ so snugly like a second skin, emphasizing his lean, but powerful build as it rose and fell with every breath he took…

 _Oh_ _no_.

Right. This sweet dork was _cut_.

Right.

"W-well?" He asked anxiously when she failed to respond after a few seconds. "Um, does it look good?"

"Uh? Um, yeah. Yeah, that looks, uh…really good. It fits you nicely," she half-choked out. It took physical effort to draw her attention off of him as she looked away. "So that one's a keeper! How about you try on another one?"

"Sure," he agreed, ducking back into the changing room and closing the door behind him. Himiko let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

Who gave this curly-haired, easily-frazzled dork permission to be so unfairly attractive? Who rigged the genetic lottery to turn him into a cute-hot nerd with a heart bigger than the sun? He was supposed to be a _cinnamon_ roll, not a _sinnamon_ roll. That was just unfair, she silently complained.

This was comeuppance for her teasing him earlier, she just knew it.

While Izuku began to get changed into the next shirt, she decided to distract herself for the time being. "Hey, I'm going to go check out a few other things, okay? I'll be back in a second!"

"Okay!" He called back, to which she returned to the shelves to see what was available. Maybe Izuku would benefit from a matching hoodie.

While she was going through the racks to see what hoodies were being sold, she spotted three men walk into the store together. She frowned slightly and casually moved a bit to the side so she was somewhat hidden behind another rack of clothing.

They were probably just shoppers, but Himiko had long since developed an instinct for spotting trouble in order to keep herself safe, and she didn't like what she was seeing. They were a little too deliberate and out of place in a store meant mostly for kids and teenagers. There was always the possibility that they were just shopping for their own families, but somehow she doubted that was what they were there for.

The way they were looking around the store, not at the clothing but at the people going about their business supported her suspicion that they weren't here for shopping.

She turned her back to them just the slightest so they couldn't see her face and began to work her way in their direction, feigning interest in various clothing items as she closed the distance between them. She wanted to know what they were doing here. She doubted they were here for her—her appearance had been altered the entire time.

When she was close enough, she paused at a rack of t-shirts and began to search through them more slowly, giving herself an excuse to spend time within earshot of them.

"I'm sure I saw him come in here," one of them muttered. She frowned slightly. _Him?_

"Do you _really_ think it's him?" Another asked a bit disbelievingly.

"The kid's been on TV a few times already. I know what Izuku Midoriya looks like," the first snapped back. "The little hellspawn thinks he can just run around and do what he wants after what his father did? Find him. Be quiet about it."

Himiko froze in place for several moments as she processed that. They weren't here for her at all. They were here for _Izuku_.

They were just starting to separate and her mind was already figuring out the most efficient way to get rid of them. It would be quick—she had a knife ready in her sweater and they were totally unsuspecting of her. It was too public to avoid detection, but if she could lose herself in a crowd and change her appearance—

She mashed the instinctive reaction down before she could take lethal action. She couldn't—wouldn't—kill them. She needed to get Izuku and get him out of here. If it was just her, escape would be as easy as breathing, but she would've bet her bottom dollar that he had no idea how to hide in plain sight and avoid people. He also couldn't conveniently transform whenever he wanted to confuse pursuers.

As calmly as she could, she took one of the hoodies she'd picked out earlier to the counter, waiting on a short line. She threw lazy glances around, intent on keeping an eye on the men that were carefully working their way through the store in search of their mark. She had to force herself to stay calm and be patient. Rushing and drawing attention could get Izuku captured.

She paid for the hoodie at last and casually made her way back to the changing rooms. The men hadn't made it that far into the store yet.

She knocked on the changing room door and heard a muffled response. "One second!"

A few moments later and Izuku opened the door. Himiko was silently relieved that he'd apparently changed back into the clothes he already owned. She didn't want to have to pull off a heist while smuggling him out of the store, as well.

Before he could open his mouth, she shoved the black hoodie at him. "Put this on. We're leaving."

Izuku frowned at her change in attitude, but she drove on. "I already bought it. We've got to go."

His eyes flashed with concern, but he did as she asked and slipped the hoodie on. Himiko flashed a glance at the entrance to the changing rooms, but saw nobody.

Once he had the jacket on, she reached up and pulled the hood over his head. He protested at that. "Himiko, we're indoors. I don't need to—"

"There are people in here looking for you," she muttered, causing him to stiffen. "Don't panic. I'm getting you out of here. Just follow my lead and do what I say."

"What do they want?" He asked. His voice dropped to a quieter tone.

"I don't know, but I don't think they want an autograph," she quipped. His lips twitched up into a slight smile.

Himiko led him to the entrance to the dressing rooms and threw a glance around the corner. She could see two of the men. The third was out of her line of sight. They weren't facing the dressing rooms at the moment, which made this a good chance to get moving.

"Come on," she told Izuku, gesturing to him to follow her. As soon as he was at her side, she looped her arm through his and pulled him along. His face flushed, but she made no comment on it. She would tease him later, when they were safe.

She could feel how tense he was just by how she grasped his arm, looking every bit like a girl leading her boyfriend around. She still couldn't see that third man and it made her uneasy, but she didn't show it.

"Turn your head towards me. Like you're listening to me talk," she ordered. Izuku did as he was told, cocking his head towards her and directing his face downwards. They were past the first man.

"Technically, I _am_ listening to you talk," he replied jokingly. They passed the second. The third was still missing.

A half-grin formed on her face. "So the smart-ass in you comes out with adrenaline. Good to know."

They exited the store and Himiko felt herself lighten for a second…until the missing third individual walked back inside right past them—he must've stepped out to make sure Izuku hadn't slipped by his friends. Her heart froze for a second as his gaze met hers. His eyes narrowed before darting to Izuku, whose face was still mostly covered by the hoodie.

The continued on past him and she could only hope he wouldn't become suspicious.

Izuku began to pull away slightly, but she held him firmly to her side. "Don't. Stay close."

She was pretty sure he stopped breathing when she turned her head towards him, their faces mere inches away as she used apparent intimacy to disguise a quick glance over her shoulder. The man was staring after them. After a second, he pulled out a phone and began to follow them as discreetly as he could. He may as well have been wearing a billboard on him as far as Himiko was concerned—she was familiar with his chosen strategy.

Her head turned away from Izuku and she did her best to ignore the heat he was giving off. "We have a tail."

The blood drained from his red face in an instant and he was deadly serious again. "Who?"

He began to turn his head and she squeezed his arm painfully tight to dissuade him. "Don't turn your head. I think he's suspicious, but I don't know for sure that he saw you."

Izuku did as she said and fell silent for a moment before opening his mouth again. "What if he saw you?"

"They're looking for you, not me. I heard them say as much."

"Yeah, but what if they saw you with me earlier? They didn't see us in the store back there, right?"

She realized he was probably right and mentally cursed. It hadn't even occurred to her that they might remember her current appearance after seeing her wandering the shopping center with Izuku and associate her with him. Which meant there was a good chance the man following them was more or less certain that Izuku was definitely the one hanging off her arm.

At least Izuku could operate well under pressure. Probably a good thing since he wanted to be a hero. But something about this was bugging her.

"Can we shake them?" He asked.

"We'll lose him in the food court and sneak out the east entrance," she told him. "From there, it's a short walk for you to get to your house. We split at the halfway point, you go straight home and Tsukauchi picks me up and drives me back to my apartment."

He fell silent for a second. "You had that planned out before we came here, didn't you?"

"I always have an escape plan, Izu," she threw a smirk in his direction and used it as a chance to glance over her shoulder again. Their tail was still on them, but fell back a bit when she turned her head to avoid suspicion. The food court was right around the corner. "Turn here. Quick."

They upped their pace a bit and power-walked into the crowd. Himiko dragged Izuku through the masses of people and took a second to pull the hoodie covering his head off. He threw her a questioning glance, but she just shook her head. It would stand out too much in this crowd.

Inside of a minute, they had slipped out of the other side of the food court and hurried out the east entrance of the mall.

"Text Tsukauchi," she told him. "Tell him what's going on. Can he track your phone?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Tell him to shadow us until we split up," she ordered. "I think we lost them, but I want to be sure."

"What if we didn't?"

"Then we lead them on a wild goose chase until Tsukauchi can catch up and arrest them," she replied cheerfully, her fangs bared in a smile that was slightly vicious. "I'm a bit pissed off that they interrupted us."

He smirked at that. "Yeah, me too. It was fun."

"You're not getting away from me yet," she teased playfully, nudging him with her elbow. He flushed again and she grinned. "Now text your detective buddy so I can mess with you a bit longer."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and Himiko was pretty sure they'd lost their tail. Tsukauchi had called Izuku and demanded a report on what was happening, but he relaxed somewhat when he was told that they'd lost whoever was following them. He agreed to pick up Himiko a bit after she and Izuku split off to avoid suspicion, but informed them that he'd delay her pickup a bit to drive Izuku home first.

They reached the point they agreed to split up and stopped together as they waited for Tsukauchi to show up, turning to face one another. Himiko shot him a smirk. "Well, I didn't expect to have to smuggle _you_ out with all the people out looking for me. That's one way to liven up my day. You owe me one, green bean."

A lopsided smile crossed his face as he regarded her. "I guess I do. Thank you for that, Himiko."

She did her best to ignore the pleasant rush that surged through her body when he directed that kind of attention towards her. The rush disappeared somewhat when she spotted Tsukauchi driving up along the street and parking close by them. That was Izuku's ride.

"Well, I'll text you when I get back to the apartment," she told him. "I'll be thinking of ways you can pay up for me saving your ass."

He winced at the obvious mischief radiating off of her at the thought of those possibilities. "Um…I could always cook you something?"

Himiko cocked her head to one side. That wasn't a bad idea, actually. Not that she'd let him know that. "I'll put it on the list of ideas."

He looked mildly frightened, but she giggled and let him off easy with a pat on the arm. "I'll see you later, Izuku."

"Yeah, you too," he responded. Himiko turned and walked off then. She glanced over her shoulder after a moment and spotted him climbing into Tsukauchi's car.

He'd be fine, she told herself. Honestly, she probably hadn't needed to go through so much effort to smuggle him out of the mall, but she really hadn't wanted their time together to be interrupted by some jackasses looking to get some sort of petty vengeance on Izuku for existing. It had been cut short enough as it is.

The thought of them made her cheek puff up with indignation. Was it too much to ask for people to just leave them be? She actually enjoyed spending time with him—very few people could claim that, and a fair few of those people were dead.

She let that morbid train of thought drop and returned to more pleasant topics as she watched the sun dip below the horizon. The darkness of evening was upon the city, but it was a darkness she was comfortable with. She felt the switchblade in her sleeve and relaxed a bit more, ducking into an alley where she could hide easily.

But she never, ever fully dropped her guard.

She paused as a breeze blew past her, causing her hair to sway a bit in the wind. Her nose wrinkled. There was a foul scent in the air, like something rotting…

She increased her pace a bit.

* * *

"I didn't think the League would end up being the lesser threat when you two went on that little venture," Tsukauchi remarked, shaking his head slightly as they reached a stoplight.

Izuku nodded slightly. "Me neither. I guess I'm lucky Himiko heard those guys trying to find me. That could've gotten ugly really fast."

"Have you had to deal with people like that before?"

"Yeah," he replied, wincing somewhat. "Nothing as crazy as today, but sometimes someone will recognize me and well…they either freak out or I get some really nasty looks."

"Hm," Tsukauchi pursed his lips. "We'll have to be more careful about sending you out on these little excursions, then."

"It's not like I'm not used to avoiding being the center of attention in public," he pointed out.

"You shouldn't have to," Tsukauchi responded. "I'll think about what can be done, alright? Let me worry about that."

Izuku nodded slightly in acceptance. He was almost home and he was looking forward to spending the night with his mother and Eri…

His phone began to vibrate suddenly and he pulled it out of his pocket. A frown formed on his face as the contact information told him it was Himiko calling.

He answered quickly. "Himiko? Are you okay?"

 _"_ _I don't know. Something is following me."_

His heart lurched. "Who? The guy that was tailing us?"

Tsukauchi pulled over and stopped the car as the conversation gained his attention. Izuku put the phone on speaker and Himiko's voice filled the vehicle. _"I don't think it's him. I'm not sure if it's even human. I can hear something getting closer and whatever it is stinks. It smells like something died."_

Izuku flashed a glance at Tsukauchi, who moved his head closer to the phone so his voice would be heard clearly. "Himiko? It's Tsukauchi. Do you feel like you're being threatened?"

 _"_ _Yes. I know what it's like to be hunted, Mr. Detective,"_ her tone was dry, but it was no-nonsense. _"Something is tracking me. Do you think you could come and get me a bit early?"_

"Then I'm going to track your phone. Izuku and I will arrive at your location as soon as possible. Try to get somewhere in the open with people—"

 _"_ _Hey, you! Stop!"_

Izuku froze at the male voice yelling through the other end of the call line. Himiko muttered tersely before she was forced to hang up. _"Hurry."_

The call ended and Tsukauchi hit the gas.

* * *

Himiko knew from no shortage of past experiences what it was to hunt—and be hunted. Not long after separating from Izuku, she'd started to get that feeling that she was being watched. That something wasn't right. She'd learned to trust those instincts, but she hadn't been able to pinpoint who or _what_ was hunting her.

She'd made the call to Izuku five minutes after she failed to shake off whatever tail she had though the maze of alleyways. If someone _was_ tracking her, they were very good at what they did. Usually if she didn't want to be found, she was good enough at disappearing to give them the slip.

This particular pursuer was good enough to stick to her like glue. She hadn't used her Quirk yet so as to avoid being recognized, but the temptation was there.

Still, since she had "the power of the law" on her side, so to speak, she decided to call Tsukauchi and Izuku to deal with whatever pest was chasing her. Hopefully, she could avoid a fight and any subsequent injuries that might result from it.

A hospital visit would be…inconvenient given her current situation.

Of course, towards the end of the call, she found herself stopping in place as the same guy who had tailed her and Izuku at the shopping center called her out.

"Hurry," she muttered to Izuku and Tsukauchi before ending the call. Hopefully they could get here soon enough to deal with this guy before she was forced to defend herself with violence.

"Who the hell are you?" She asked irritably as she pocketed her phone.

"I'll ask the questions, you brat," the man retorted. He was blocking the alleyway and her way out. Of course, she could just turn around and walk away…

…or not, Himiko thought with no shortage of annoyance as she turned and spotted three more guys blocking the other end. Two were the same guys that had been with their supposed leader at the shopping center. The other was probably a friend of theirs.

She glanced back around to face the leader. "How did you follow me?"

"What did I just say?" He demanded heatedly. "I'll ask the questions. I bet you thought you were really clever, giving me the slip back there. Sucks to be you since I've got friends with certain talents."

Himiko's eyes were drawn to a shimmer next to the guy and she watched as another man covered in scales seemingly materialized beside him. A chameleon-type Quirk, then. Was he the one that stank so badly? It was permeating the air at this point.

Her attention returned to the leader of the little gang as he jabbed a finger at her. "You were hanging out with Izuku Midoriya today. You're close to him, aren't you?"

"Obviously not right now, dumbass. He's at U.A," she retorted sarcastically.

"I don't need any of your shit," he spat back. "You're with him. I don't know who picked him up in that car, but if we can't get him tonight, I'll settle for you. That'll draw him out of his little safe house at U.A."

"I wouldn't bet on it," she snapped, fingers twisting to reach for the switchblade in her sleeve.

"I would," he sneered. "Get her."

 _Sorry about this, Izuku,_ she thought to herself as she prepared to fight.

The moment she flicked out her switchblade, her eyes spotted a huge shadow fall from the building above them and practically on top of the man who had started all of this. It landed with the thud of heavy feet, causing everyone in the alleyway to freeze in place.

Himiko's eyes grew wide as the smell hit her full blast and she realized that this was the thing that stunk so badly. This _thing_ was the one that had been following her.

It was hard to find a comparison for the creature at first glance. She supposed the closest anatomical match would be a great ape since it seemed to walk on its knuckles, but it looked nothing like those. Its skin was a lumpy, dark gray, and looked closer to hide than flesh. Though the feet looked human enough, the elongated arms ended with long fingers and a wicked set of claws meant to grip and tear. The head was the most dangerous-looking feature by far. It was long and heavy like the muzzle of a bear, but with needle-like teeth that protruded forwards. The eyes were small and milky white, to the point that Himiko wasn't sure if it was blind or not.

More disturbing were the clear signs that it wasn't healthy, whatever it was. The ribs were visible all over its torso and one was actually protruding from its body, though it showed some signs of healing. The left arm also looked like it had been broken recently and appeared disfigured.

She had all of two seconds to identify the injuries as weak points when the creature grabbed the man who had tailed her and Izuku from the shopping center and quite simply shoved its muzzle into the chest cavity to bite out his heart.

A chill ran up her spine as it tossed the lifeless corpse to the side and turned its gaze to the others in the alley. Maddened hunger reeked from its every move.

The other men screamed. Himiko gave up trying to avoid using her Quirk and let the darkness blanket her body, cloaking herself in shadows and hiding from the sight of all those around her. She dove to the side as the creature lunged into the alley and swiped at the spot where she'd been just a moment ago.

It stopped as it reached her previous position and she heard the nostrils flare as it twisted its head to and fro. It could smell her—hiding would only delay the inevitable in this situation.

She rushed in a blur of speed and buried her switchblade into the creature's flank from behind, only to bite back a snarl when she realized that she'd barely penetrated into the muscle. It was a flesh wound, nothing more.

But it did get the creature's attention. It spun towards her with surprising speed, swiping with those deadly claws. She ducked to avoid the swing and scrambled out of the way. If the organs were out of her reach, she'd have to target other weak points.

She lunged again inside of its guard and drove the knife right into the wound where its rib was protruding. The creature _screamed_.

It was a hideous shriek that split her eardrums and made her physically cringe for a crucial second that cost her.

Himiko screeched as the claws grabbed her and dug into her back, then crushed her to the ground. The shadows and her transformation left her as she was stunned by the impact and she was left staring up at the descending skull of the creature as it pointed its jaws at her chest.

Her heartbeat was thudding in her ears and every drop of blood in her body was flooded with icy terror. _She was going to die_.

The temperature rose.

The creature stopped dead and snapped its head up, sniffing the air with an uneasy growl. Himiko didn't dare take her eyes off of it, but something had clearly gained its attention enough to keep it from instantly killing her. As the seconds ticked by, heat began to build up in the air around them until it was almost a physical force.

All of a sudden, it surged as a blaze of emerald crashed into the creature's chest in a blur of speed and sent it flying back. Himiko was torn free of its claws with a gasp of pain and managed to sit up enough to see what had happened. The creature snarled in surprise, but backpedalled and came to a stop as its attacker landed on the ground between it and its prey.

Izuku had finally arrived on the scene, and his flames weren't the only thing ablaze. Rage burned in his eyes as he faced the creature with clenched fists and aggression in his every move. The fiery horns upon his head were swaying vividly, threatening the creature with their mere appearance.

The creature seemed to be more hesitant as it regarded him, but it let out a challenging howl and reared up to its full height in an attempt to intimidate its newfound enemy. Izuku was undeterred by the sight and only flared up more intensely.

With its attempt at intimidation a failure, the creature fell back to all fours and screeched at Izuku hatefully before it began to move forward. He answered the challenge by sparking with plasma and lunging at the creature in a blur of speed that it never saw coming. In an instant, he had grabbed its head and used that as a pivot to flip himself onto its back.

Izuku had fought huge enemies like this twice before and learned his lesson. He didn't bother testing the body for weaknesses like he had with Noumu or Muscular. He went straight for the head.

The creature screeched at the burning flames and was sent staggering as Izuku wrapped his arms around its throat and heaved back. It fell back awkwardly on its bad arm and shrieked again in pain, bringing it close to the ground. Izuku slid off its back to get a better grip on its head and then choke-slammed its skull into the concrete beneath them.

While the two of them grappled with each other, Himiko began to crawl away from the battle, only to yelp when a hand grabbed her arm. She spun around, but the shock left her when she realized it was only Tsukauchi. He hauled her to her feet and shouted as he pulled her away. "Get back!"

They heard a shout and her head whipped back to the fight as the creature managed to throw Izuku off. He hit the ground harshly near them, but rolled back to his feet and glared at the beast as it rose back up for another round. Undeterred, the plasma coating his body pulsed as he forced the temperature to rise before lunging again.

Tsukauchi pulled Himiko back away from the fight as Izuku engaged the creature again, once more going for its unprotected head in an attempt to finish it off as quickly as possible. The creature wasn't stupid, though—once it realized what Izuku was going for, it was more careful to defend its head and swatted him away with a powerful backhand.

The breath left Izuku's lungs as the impact sent him flying again, this time into one of the walls, but he was only down for a second. He'd suffered worse hits than this. The creature was strong, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as the likes of Noumu or Muscular had been. Even so, he didn't want to draw this fight out any longer if he could help it. So far, it had just tossed him around, and he didn't want to find out if it had any Quirks up its sleeve.

He glared at the creature again as his arms slowly began to pump up the temperature of his plasma to intense heights. The creature was wary of Izuku, but it saw him as an obstacle between it and its prey, so it would remove him. It began to close the distance to attack, only for Izuku to meet it with a burst of speed, slipping past its guard to drive both hands into its chest.

The twin Pyroclasms lanced into the creature's hide viciously and it recoiled with a shriek of pain, lowering itself to protect its underside. Seizing the opportunity, Izuku snarled and jumped back onto its shoulders to reach the head once more, wrestling with the creature in an effort to subjugate it.

Once more, it attempted to throw him off, but Izuku was expecting it this time. He let go a bit early so the momentum worked in his favor to flip him backwards. The creature turned just in time to meet a vicious kick that connected with its lower jaw and smashed it into the wall.

The impact made a low crunching sound and the creature dropped with a pained gasp. Clearly dazed, it made no move to try another attack. Izuku didn't approach it for a few seconds and simply watched it warily.

Suddenly it shook its head, as though clearing the pain away and twisted to shriek at Izuku. But instead of attacking, it leapt straight up and scrambled up the wall and onto the rooftop.

He made to chase it, but Tsukauchi yelled at him before he could. "Izuku, stop!"

The teenager paused and frowned. "It's getting away!"

"And we'll find it later. It's too dangerous to chase on your own. We have a casualty and an injury to deal with!" The detective gestured to Himiko.

Izuku froze and let his flames die as he hurried over to the girl, who was allowed to sit back down now that the immediate threat was gone. He knelt in front of her and stopped for a second as he regarded the girl's face. She looked like she'd just stared death in the eye. "Himiko? Where are you hurt?"

"Back," she choked out. "Got me with the claws."

Tsukauchi glanced at Izuku. "I've got bandages in the car. Keep her calm."

He just nodded in response and hesitantly lifted his hand to take one of hers. "You're gonna be ok. I'm here, alright? It's gone."

"I know," she replied, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and shivered a bit. "I'm sorry, I just need a moment."

"Take your time. We're gonna get you fixed up."

Tsukauchi was back in a minute with the bandages and knelt behind Himiko. "I'm going to take a look at this, ok? Hopefully you won't need stitches."

"Here's hoping," she managed to joke.

Izuku squeezed her hand as Tsukauchi inspected the injury and Himiko looked up at him, focusing on his face to help her relax a little. She hissed a bit in pain as the detective carefully prodded at the injury with practiced fingers, but it didn't hurt all that badly.

"…I think we got lucky here," Tsukauchi said slowly. "The scratches are long, but they're not deep. I think I can just clean these and get some bandages on them and they should be fine."

"Woohoo," she muttered sarcastically.

"I'm going to have to clean it with alcohol wipes," he warned. "It's going to hurt."

"You don't _say?"_

Izuku cracked a slight smile at her evident exasperation towards the situation, but he remained professional as Tsukauchi extracted an alcohol wipe and began to clean the cuts.

The burn of the alcohol had her tensing and clenching her jaw. She squeezed Izuku's hand tightly and he responded by shifting closer to her, letting the girl reach him with her other hand to grip his hoodie tightly. Her head fell onto his shoulder as Tsukauchi continued to clean her wounds.

It was over in minutes as Tsukauchi covered the wounds with some bandages after cleaning them. He surveyed his work and nodded in satisfaction. "That'll do for now."

"Good, now I just need a new shirt," Himiko mumbled. Her current shirt was shredded at the back thanks to the creature's claws.

The detective glanced away from them and towards the corpse the creature had left behind. He pursed his lips for a moment before sighing. "I have to call the force in to manage this homocide. Izuku, could you call your mother and sort something out? I'm going to be here for a while."

He nodded and pulled his phone out, but stayed close to Himiko in order to provide some kind of comfort to the girl. She was grateful for the gesture.

* * *

She was less sure as to how she wound up at the Midoriya household twenty minutes later.

Himiko had told Izuku that he could just take her back to the apartment, but being the stubborn, selfless hero that he was, he insisted on giving her a place to sleep where she wouldn't have to worry about fending for herself throughout the night. It was pretty easy for him to convince his mother after filling her in on the situation, though she appeared to be somewhat uncomfortable with the idea.

Himiko was too tired to let the awkwardness affect her much. She'd let herself feel awkward in the morning, when she'd had some coffee and hadn't just survived a near-death experience. For now, she was okay with Izuku fussing while little Eri hovered behind him and just watched her with wide, curious eyes.

Before long, she found herself being herded into the bathroom to shower before they went to sleep. Izuku handed her a towel and a set of clothes to change into since the back of her shirt was torn to ribbons.

"Here. There's shampoo and stuff in there," he told her. "Take your time, ok?"

"I should get attacked more often if this is what happens every time," Himiko snarked, smiling a bit. She eyed the change of clothes for a moment—a pair of black basketball shorts and a big white t-shirt. "Are these yours?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku replied awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head with slight unease. "I mean, we don't have any girls clothes that'll fit you, so…You-you're okay with shorts and a t-shirt, right?"

"I'm sure I can make it work. Who knows? They might look better on me than you, anyways," she teased before accepting the bundle and retreating into the shower before Izuku could stop sputtering.

He huffed and forced the crimson flush coloring his cheeks to dissipate, though he had a half-smile on his face. She was never going to stop doing that, was she?

"Izu?"

He blinked and turned around to see Eri grasping the edge of his t-shirt. His half-smile grew into a full one as he faced the little girl and knelt in front of her. "Yes?"

"Is she your friend? I've never seen her before."

He cocked his head to one side for a moment—he could hear the shower going and banished that train of thought before it could get going—and nodded slowly. "Yeah, she's my friend. It's complicated, but she's a good friend."

"I don't get it," she replied bluntly, cocking her head in an imitation of her guardian.

"I'll tell you more later, okay?" He promised. "C'mon—go get ready for bed. I'll spend the night with you."

Eri smiled brightly and bobbed her head in response before rushing off to her room. Izuku watched her go with a fond look on his face.

"Izuku? Mind coming to the kitchen for a moment?"

His smile dropped somewhat when his mother called him, but he sighed and pushed down his misgivings about the situation. Awkward as it was, he owed her an explanation regarding Himiko beyond "she got attacked by a villain and I want to make sure she's safe tonight". That had been enough to convince Inko to allow Himiko to spend the night, but he knew well enough that there would have to be a longer discussion.

He met his mother in the kitchen and found her washing some dishes at the sink. She glanced at him when he came in and turned the faucet off, drying her hands as she faced him. Her expression was stern, but not unkind.

"I know tonight was…difficult for you," she began. "So I won't press you for everything right this instant. But I still want to know what you were doing with her this afternoon. I distinctly remember asking you not to bring home a serial killer girlfriend not too long ago."

Izuku blushed furiously. "Sh-she's not m-my—!"

Inko lifted an eyebrow and simply pointed to a bag on the counter. Izuku blinked at it for a few seconds before his blush increased tenfold.

It was the bag Himiko had gotten from that lingerie shop.

 _Oh no._

"TH-THAT'S—I-I-IT'S NOT WHAT YOU TH-THINK!" He let out a thin screech, hiding his face and wishing that the damning evidence (however misinterpreted it was) would vanish, never to be seen again.

"Then please tell me what it is I'm supposed to think," Inko told him, looking nervous herself about the topic. "Because if it is what I think it is, please, _please_ tell me you at least used protection—"

 ** _"_** ** _MOOOOOM! NOOOOO!"_**

"Izu? Are you okay?"

Izuku jumped and shrieked before spinning around to see Eri poking her head into the kitchen with a concerned expression on her face. "I-I-I-I'M F-FINE!"

"You're on fire."

He realized he was actually burning and forced his flames to dissipate, lifting his hands to fan his face. "I-I'm okay, Eri! Mom and I are just—we're having an important conversation!"

"What about?" She asked curiously.

His face went from red to white faster than what should have been considered healthy. He was _not_ giving her the birds and the bees talk right now, not while he could barely keep himself under control!

"J-just stuff! Hey, um, go get all your drawings so I can see them!"

Eri's smile returned instantly. "Okay!"

She darted off once more and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Izuku?" Inko prompted now that the youngest Midoriya was gone.

"Right," he steeled himself and faced his mother again. "W-well…we just went out shopping this afternoon. She went into that store mostly just to mess with me, I think. But mom—we're—it's not like that, I promise. We haven't d-done…any of those th-things."

"Ah. That's good," Inko visibly sagged with relief.

"Y-yeah," he managed.

An awkward silence filled the kitchen for a few moments. Inko eventually took a deep breath. "You can tell me more tomorrow. But Izuku…you have to tell me what's going on here. I need to know why you're spending time with her. Do you understand?"

"I understand," he nodded. "And I promise I'll tell you."

"Thank you," she smiled at him. His lips rose up into a lopsided smile in turn.

"Izu! I brought my drawings!" Eri announced as she ran back into the kitchen. He turned to face her and let the little girl absorb all of his attention as they both gushed over her latest artistic masterpieces.

* * *

"How's your back?" Izuku asked as he sat down next to the couch. Himiko had just settled on the furniture with a blanket covering her. She looked exhausted, but well enough given what she'd been through that afternoon.

"Sore," she admitted. "It doesn't hurt that badly, though."

"You sure? I can get you something for the pain."

"I'll be fine," she told him. "I just need sleep."

"Okay. I'll be right here all night in case you need anything, alright?"

"You don't have to do that," she protested. "You need to sleep as much as I do."

He smiled at her wryly. "I'll be fine. Just get some rest, ok? We'll talk more tomorrow morning."

She nodded slowly and found herself just watching him as her heavy eyelids drifted close and carried her off into the dark expanse of sleep.

Izuku shifted on the little pallet he'd set up for himself and Eri to crash on by the couch. It was fun for Eri and the closest thing she'd experienced to a sleepover.

He wondered if he'd made the right decision, bringing Himiko here and letting his mother know that he was interacting with her outside of school. He could tell she wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but he would do his best to explain everything to her. He knew he could convince her that Himiko wasn't a bad person, and of course there was a whole lot more that would be a part of that conversation. But he wouldn't give up.

Even if there was just the tiniest, most fleeting chance of helping her…

"Izu?"

He glanced at Eri, who was whispering to avoid waking the sleeping girl on the couch. The child's eyes darted to Himiko and back to him. "Is she asleep?"

"Yes," he replied, lowering his voice and placing a finger over his smiling lips. "Shh. We should sleep, too."

"Ok," Eri fought a yawn for a few seconds before giving into it. Izuku snorted at the sight and lay down on the pallet, tugging Eri over to rest on his chest. She snuggled into the familiar embrace of her protector and before long, she too had fallen asleep.

Izuku could feel exhaustion beating down on him as well. He pressed a kiss to Eri's brow and let his head fall back to let sleep claim him.

* * *

 **A/N: I remember having a plan to get a ton of writing done over the Summer, except for the fact that I forgot one small, small detail: kids are out of school during the Summer, and they enjoy flooding my workplace...all the time. Thankfully, they are all back in school! Woohoo!**

 **So yeah, that coupled with a bit of writer's block made this update way later than it should have been, so I've made it a big update to make up for that somewhat! My hope is to get this arc finished right on time for the new anime season to come out! In a way, it's probably good that I took a long break- keeps me from getting burnt out!**

 **Special shout out to Akiyamasamalamadingdong and AuthorOfPurpose once more for helping me beta this chapter! Another shout out to everyone on the Discord for helping out and being patient with my nonsense! XD**

 **Also, the discord is totally still open for anyone who wants to join! Just PM me if you're interested in joining our little madhouse!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


	43. Meeting

_Chapter Forty-Three: Meeting_

Himiko was awoken by the sounds of cabinets rattling. She opened her eyes and frowned for a moment upon seeing her surroundings, but her face cleared when the events of the night before came rushing back to her mind.

Her back was still a bit sore, but it didn't hurt nearly as badly as it had when she'd first been injured. Carefully, she sat up and stretched, only to pause when she heard cabinets rattling again from the kitchen. Curious, she slipped out of the blankets and off the couch, avoiding the still-sleeping Izuku on the floor nearby. She felt a pang of fondness as she took a second to observe the teenager before another round of cabinet rattling regained her attention.

She walked towards the kitchen quietly out of habit and blinked when she spotted the source of the noise; little Eri trying—and failing—to reach a cup on the counter. Her body kept bumping into the cabinets as she stretched on the tips of her toes and strained to reach her goal.

It was cute, but she didn't want Eri to wake up Izuku.

"Need a hand?"

Eri squeaked and leapt away from the counter, spinning towards Himiko with wide eyes. She held her hands up placatingly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to spook you."

Eri had a little blanket wrapped around her shoulders and she partially hid her face into it as she shyly looked at Himiko. Her gaze returned to the cup she had been reaching for, and Himiko took that as her cue to walk over and retrieve it for the child. She held the cup out to Eri, who took it with a meek, but grateful, nod before running to the refrigerator.

Himiko couldn't help but watch Eri curiously as she went about her task, which continued as she attempted to reach the orange juice on one of the higher shelves. Feeling some amusement, she followed the child and retrieved the carton for her, resulting in another surprised squeak.

"Here. Hold it out?" She prompted, crouching. Eri shyly did as she asked and held the glass out, to which Himiko began to pour until the cup was half-full. "How's that?"

Eri nodded and sipped at her juice before glancing back up at the cups on the countertop and pointing. Himiko's eyes followed the gesture and she blinked. "You want another cup?"

The little girl nodded and shyly looked at the floor. "Izu," she said simply.

"I think he's still asleep," Himiko told her.

"For when he wakes up," Eri insisted.

Realizing that the girl wasn't going to take no for an answer, Himiko smirked and moved to get the cup Eri wanted. "How much does he like?"

"Same," Eri told her, pointing at her own glass.

It was an odd experience for her, she reflected—dealing with Eri. She wasn't used to being trusted so…well, easily. Eri was shy, but she didn't reject or avoid contact with her. She was much like Izuku in that regard. Himiko absently wondered if that was the only trait that had rubbed off on Eri while in Izuku's care. It wasn't a stretch to assume the girl was adopted; she looked nothing like Izuku or Inko, and she knew Inko hadn't remarried.

Not that it made a difference. Eri was clearly an integral part of the family.

After pouring Izuku's glass of juice, (and stashing it in the fridge so it would remain cold) Himiko turned back to Eri and found the girl looking up at her with something like curiosity. She blinked. "What is it?"

Eri just silently reached towards her and Himiko hesitated a second before crouching in front of the girl. She wasn't sure what to expect until Eri tentatively ran her fingers through Himiko's hair, her eyes fascinated.

"Your hair's kinda like Katsuki's, but it's not spiky," Eri mumbled as she just felt the older girl's hair. Himiko honestly wasn't sure how to respond to that, but she was content to watch for the time being as Eri began to curl a lock of her hair around a tiny finger. "It's soft. I like it."

It was such a sweetly innocent comment that Himiko couldn't stop her lips from twitching up into a genuine smile. "Thanks. Can I touch yours?"

Eri thought about it before nodding shyly. Himiko lifted one hand and let her fingers gently carve through the child's own silver-white hair. It was just as silky as it looked, soft and clean and untouched by anything foul. Himiko briefly felt like her touching Eri's hair was tainting it somehow and retracted her exploration after a few seconds.

Eri blinked. "Why'd you stop?"

"I…" she trailed off for a second. "I didn't want to get orange juice in your hair."

"Oh. Ok," she accepted that easily enough. "Do you want some?"

"I like coffee better."

"We have coffee. I don't know how to make it, though."

"I do."

Himiko gasped and her gaze whipped up to see Izuku standing in the entryway to the kitchen. There was a small smile on his slightly-red face and his eyes were glowing with something that made her forget how to breathe for a moment. She suddenly remembered that she was still wearing his clothes and self-consciously averted her eyes.

Eri had no such qualms. Her face lit up with joy and she barely remembered to set her glass of juice on the counter before running to him. "Izu!"

He scooped her up and plopped a kiss on her forehead, causing the child to giggle. "Morning, Eri. Sleep good?"

"Yes."

Izuku nuzzled her again and then glanced at Himiko. "What about you? How's your back?"

"I slept fine, Izuku," she replied. "My back is fine, too."

He nodded and propped Eri on his right hip in what was clearly a practiced motion. "So, breakfast? I'm cooking."

"You don't have to," Himiko protested. "I should probably be getting back to the apartment anyways…"

"You can wait a bit," he pointed out, offering her a smile. "Besides, I can cook way better food now that I'm not restricted in Kurogiri's bar."

Himiko paused for a second as she recalled Izuku's delicious cooking way back in the old hideout. Her mouth began to water on reflex.

"Well, since you're twisting my arm…"

Izuku laughed and Himiko felt lighter than she had in a long time.

* * *

It must've been quite a sight for Inko to walk into that morning, finding Izuku with Eri on his hip and Himiko at his side as her son prepared breakfast for all of them. Both of the girls were more or less drooling as they watched Izuku cook a massive platter of pancakes, eggs, and bacon before he got out several fruits and chopped them up into bits. Himiko was already working on a cup of coffee while another cup was waiting to be filled in the coffee machine.

She would've been lying if the sight, which was so endearingly domestic, didn't make her smile despite her misgivings.

They sat down at the table once everything was set up and went about enjoying the breakfast Izuku had so thoughtfully cooked up for them. Small talk was, as ever, related to Izuku's experiences at U.A.

"I'm getting a new set of gauntlets made in the Support Department," he told them. "Hopefully it'll make using Pyroclasm easier. Right now it kind of shakes up my arms a bit."

Inko frowned anxiously at that. "Please be careful, Izuku. You remember what the doctors told you."

"I know," he replied quietly. "That's why we're working on this equipment. It should negate the side-effects."

"It's kind of cool how you have your own designers for costumes," Himiko interjected, pouting slightly. "Whoever designed my equipment clearly had no taste in cute things."

Izuku snorted. "I'm pretty sure black market dealers don't prioritize how cute something is when they make it."

"Well, they should!"

Eri blinked and looked at Izuku. "What's a black market dealer?"

"Someone who makes something they're not supposed to and then sells it illegally," Izuku explained.

She tilted her head slightly. "Then why do they do it?"

"Money, usually," he said. "Some of the more devious ones sometimes use them as experiments for equipment that they _can_ sell legally. Those guys are usually involved with big companies, but they're hard to pin down."

Eri blinked and looked back to Himiko. "Why'd you get stuff from them?"

Himiko briefly froze and shot Izuku a helpless look. Being the hero he was, he managed to save her from explaining that. "One of Himiko's friends got her that stuff, Eri. She didn't have much of a choice."

"Oh. Ok."

It wasn't exactly the truth, but nobody wanted to scare Eri with the idea that there was technically a villain at the table. In any case, she was content to dive back into her breakfast and take another big bite of her pancakes. Izuku's mouth quirked up into a fond smile as he reached over to gently pat the girl's head.

Himiko shifted a bit in her seat and let her shoulders sag somewhat as she relaxed. Her shirt (well, Izuku's shirt) slid a bit further down to expose a bit of her shoulder and for a moment, Inko caught sight of the bite scar Izuku had told her about once before.

She pressed her lips together. She knew that Izuku was bent on saving Himiko from a life of villainy, and she could even buy that the girl really wanted to be helped given how well she had behaved herself. But the motherly part of her warned that their current relationship was toxic—and that they were getting too attached to each other.

Oh, Izuku had convinced Inko that they weren't romantically involved the night before, but he didn't see the way he brightened a bit when he looked at Himiko sometimes. And Inko was certain he wasn't aware of how Himiko's gaze in turn lingered a little too long on him to be simply casual.

She honestly _did_ hope things would improve—she truly did wish that Izuku would find a way to save Himiko from her current life, and she didn't wish any misfortune on the girl despite her misgivings. But she didn't want her son's heart to be broken, and she didn't want him to suffer the consequences of a toxic friendship. But she also knew that some lessons had to be learned the hard way. Izuku had the heart of a hero, and there would be no backing down for him now that his mind was made up. She would do her best to help him through it, and sometimes that was all that could be done.

Life, she knew, was the best teacher of all.

* * *

Tsukauchi dropped by an hour later to pick Izuku and Himiko up.

"I see you managed to stay out of trouble after all the excitement last night," he commented upon seeing them. "You did, right?"

"Yes, we did," Izuku told him with a mild smirk before his expression became a bit anxious. "What about you?"

"Well, I'm running on a few too many shots of espresso right now, but it was a long night," the man admitted. He nodded his head towards his car in the parking lot. "Let's get going, I have a meeting with Toshinori in thirty minutes."

Inko saw them to the door while Eri took the chance to be held by Izuku for a few more seconds. She fixed her son with a stern expression. "Remember to call me tonight, young man. You aren't getting away from our conversation yesterday."

"Yes ma'am," he replied, having the grace to look sheepish.

Her expression softened. "Say hello to your friends for me, okay? I hope you have a good day, sweetheart."

"Thanks, mom," Izuku smiled at her and then turned to Eri, who had her arms wrapped around his neck. He plopped a kiss onto her head, causing her to giggle. "I'll see you soon, Eri. Be good."

She pouted at him and he laughed before nuzzling her nose with his own. "I know. You're always good."

He passed Eri back to Inko, who happily took the child into her arms. Eri waved at Himiko, who was standing a little awkwardly beside Tsukauchi. "Bye bye."

The blonde girl blinked at her before cracking a smile. "See you, Eri."

* * *

Tsukauchi gave them a minute alone once they reached the apartment complex. Himiko stopped at the door and turned to face Izuku, who was shifting in place. "Well, it's been fun. Text me tonight after your mom finishes grilling you, ok?"

He snorted a bit. "Sure."

"What was she talking to you about last night, anyways?" She asked curiously.

Izuku's face blossomed pink. "Erm…she, uh…she saw your bag from th-that store yesterday, and um…assumed s-stuff."

Himiko blinked and processed that for a second before the realization made her cheeks burn. She looked down at the bag in her hands as her voice became small. "Oh."

"Yeah."

The atmosphere between them was awkward for several seconds before Himiko finally broke it. "Well, um…thanks. For saving me yesterday, I mean."

"You saved me too, you know," he replied with a slight smile. "I guess that makes us even, right?"

"I guess so," she agreed. Her eyes gleamed with mischief. "I'll still be thinking of ways for you to pay me back."

Izuku sputtered. "B-but we're even!"

"Then I guess you'll just have to think up ways for me to pay you back, too."

Her grin was teasing, but the slightest flush of her cheeks was what rendered him speechless until she stepped into her apartment and gave him one last wink. "See you later, green bean."

* * *

Izuku was escorted by Tsukauchi to All Might's office as soon as they returned to U.A. Although the detective had messaged Toshinori about the incident the night before, (and assured him that Izuku was unharmed) they still needed to talk about the situation.

Once they were all settled in the chairs around All Might's desk, the discussion began.

"So you _are_ unhurt, right?" Toshinori asked Izuku anxiously. "Tsukauchi told me as much, but it didn't stop me from worrying all night."

"I'm fine," he assured his mentor. "I've got a couple of bruises, but nothing major. It didn't get to do much more than throw me around a bit."

"He fought it off before things could get really ugly," Tsukauchi agreed. "Whatever it was clearly wasn't interested in a prolonged fight, especially since it was apparently already hurt prior to us arriving."

All Might raised an eyebrow. "Your report mentioned that, but not in detail. Was it injured by Himiko?"

Izuku frowned. "I doubt it. I didn't get a good look at its injuries, but one of its arms looked like it was in bad shape and it had a rib bone protruding from its chest. Himiko's a good fighter, but she doesn't have the physical strength to do that kind of damage."

"Hmm," Toshinori's brow furrowed. "There was another murder matching the M.O of this particular assailant earlier this week, but the witness report didn't mention anything about injuries. It also fled as soon as it committed the act."

Tsukauchi glanced at Izuku. "It might be a good idea for you to bring this up with Sir Nighteye. He's an excellent investigator and he might be able to help with this situation. You still have to report to him about yesterday."

"Mirio and I are planning on meeting up with him at the office for lunch," Izuku replied. "I can bring it up with him there. But also…"

Toshinori blinked. "What is it?"

Izuku chewed on his lip for a moment. "I need to talk to All for One."

The former hero tensed. "Izuku—"

"I have to ask him something, All Might," he pleaded. "It's something only he would know for sure."

"He's influenced you too much as it is. I'm not sure if any information is worth putting you within fifty miles of that monster."

"This information is. Please, All Might. I'm going to see him, but I really need your support for this."

"Are you certain?" Toshinori looked like he was desperate to outright refuse the request, even though he knew in the end it was Izuku's decision. "Even if he's under lock and key, he's still incredibly dangerous. He doesn't need his Quirks to get to you. You know what he's capable of."

"I do, but he's the only person who could tell me what I need to know," Izuku insisted. "Really, I wouldn't ask to see him if I thought anyone else could tell me."

"Are you absolutely sure beyond 100% that there is no one else who could tell you…whatever it is you need to ask him?" Toshinori practically pleaded. "What is it you want to know, anyways?"

The teenager hesitated. "It's just a theory…I really don't want to just speculate, but it's important. And even if it turns out I'm wrong, there's a chance he'll give up some sort of information to me."

"If you try to go mining for information from that man, he'll send you into a maze of smoke and mirrors. Izuku, you _cannot_ trust him for his word."

"I know that. I know what he is. But I have to at least try."

Tsukauchi exchanged a glance with his old friend before glancing at Izuku. "If you're sure, I'll set up a meeting time. They might be able to do it tomorrow. It's not like he's able to do much more than wait around."

Toshinori muttered something under his breath that was probably venom towards the captive villain. Izuku honestly shared that sentiment, but he had to speak with the man. Something had been bothering him for a while, but he couldn't be certain if his suspicions were founded unless he spoke with the former Symbol of Evil.

If he was right…

"Very well," Tsukauchi said when Izuku just nodded. "Just remember you can cancel at any time. No one will blame you for that."

"Thank you," Izuku said tersely.

* * *

A few hours later saw Izuku and Mirio arriving at Sir Nighteye's office. Izuku had briefly dropped by the dorms to put some of his things up, but he hadn't seen anyone aside from Denki. It seemed everyone was holed up getting some homework done or busy with their own internships.

He was looking forward to seeing the others later. He really wanted to see his friends.

Once they'd all gotten lunch, Izuku found himself standing in the briefing room at Nighteye's office with Mirio, Bubble Girl, and Centipeder. His boss was seated in his desk, Centipeder at his side while Mirio and Bubble Girl stood close to Izuku.

Nighteye opened a folder on his desk as they all got settled. "Tsukauchi sent me information about the incident last night, but I would like you to give me your own report, Izuku. Explain what occurred while you and our asset were meeting."

"Asset?" Mirio echoed curiously.

"Izuku is meeting with a contact on a regular basis at my request," Nighteye explained, providing their cover for meeting with Himiko. "He was with her last night when the incident occurred."

"Whoa, you already got an individual assignment?!" Bubble Girl exclaimed. "Lucky!"

"Enough," Sir cut her off sternly. "Izuku, report."

He swallowed his nerves down and did his best to be professional. "We met up in the shopping district yesterday evening with Detective Tsukauchi shadowing us to make sure nothing went wrong. Her allies weren't around, so we didn't assume any trouble would find us, but after a while she realized we were being tailed. I guess a small gang recognized me and wanted to attempt a kidnapping."

Centipeder's eyes narrowed. "Did we get their identities?"

Nighteye nodded. "Their leader was recovered at the crime scene and we linked him to the others. They were small-timers, nothing of particular interest, but I've noted them just in case. They'll likely disband after this. Continue, Izuku."

"Yes, Sir," he went on. "She snuck me out of the shopping district and Tsukauchi followed us to drive me back home at a meeting point. We thought we gave them the slip, but she called me not long after and said someone was following her. The call got interrupted and we tracked her phone to the crime scene. When we arrived, the leader of the group that was trying to capture me was already dead and our…asset was pinned down by an enemy I'd never seen before. She told me later that she didn't recognize it, either. I attacked it and managed to drive it off, then Tsukauchi and I made sure she wasn't hurt. I got her out of there and Tsukauchi called the force in. That's pretty much it."

"You were starting to monologue," Nighteye critiqued. "We'll have to work on that, but you focused on the important details in your report and imparted them accurately. Well done."

"Thank you," Izuku replied, feeling a brief swell of pride.

"In regards to the unknown assailant, Tsukauchi informed me that there had been a similar incident earlier in the week," Nighteye looked down at the file in front of him and then pulled a secondary file from the side and set it down. "I have a suspicion, but I'd like for you to confirm its appearance for me first, Izuku. Can you describe the assailant that attacked our asset and yourself?"

"Yes," he cocked his head to one side as he recalled the mysterious attacker. "It was large—eight feet high, maybe? It might've been a little bigger. It was bipedal, but it had a tendency to fall on all fours when we fought. Probably to protect its injuries."

"Injuries?" Centipeder echoed. "Injuries that you dealt?"

"No, they were old wounds," Izuku frowned slightly. "Well, they weren't old, exactly, but they weren't fresh, either. A few days old, I think. It was hard to tell. There was a rib protruding from its chest and one of the arms looked like it had been broken. I don't think our asset did it, either. She's a good fighter, but she doesn't have the power to do something like that."

Nighteye's gaze narrowed. "So it had a run-in with another villain prior to your encounter with it? Did it seem desperate?"

"Yes, Sir," the teenager's frown deepened. "It wasn't looking for a prolonged fight. Once I hit it a couple of times, it just took off. Now that I think about it, that was probably the smartest move it made. When I fought that thing, it wasn't fighting intelligently. It was more reactive than proactive and it didn't really attack with any Quirk that I could see. The more I think about it, the less I'm convinced it was actually a person."

Centipeder glanced at Nighteye. "It sounds almost like an animal."

"Indeed," Nighteye replied slowly. "And it doesn't match the M.O from the reports I compiled."

Izuku blinked in confusion until Nighteye opened up the second file on his desk. "The autopsy report from the victim last night and the one earlier this week both reminded me of a similar incident several years ago. I looked it up in the database and found some old files pertaining to a possible serial killer whose activity was on and off over the years—all of the victims involved sustained an identical injury to the one from last night; a single bite wound that tore their hearts out."

Bubble Girl visibly paled and Mirio's ever present smile dropped somewhat. Izuku gulped.

Nighteye pulled the various reports from the file and checked them each with his finger. "From what I can tell, if this is the same killer, he's been active for the better part of fifteen years. He's got nineteen confirmed kills to his name, and yet these last two incidents are unbelievably sloppy compared to the usual in-and-out efficiency of his previous work."

Izuku frowned again. "It doesn't seem possible from what I saw…He wasn't particularly strong and he didn't behave all that intelligently."

"I agree," Nighteye nodded. "Which makes me suspect that this killer was being used as a tool until recently. Perhaps he was kept on a leash for so many years and set loose to take out certain targets, but now his master has seen fit to either dispose of him or his master was found out and captured."

"Like those Noumu things, then?" Mirio muttered, scratching his chin in thought.

"It was smarter and weaker than the Noumu," Izuku argued. "But I agree that there's no way it would've lasted this long on its own. Someone had to have been hiding it."

"What are the odds it'll attack someone again?" Bubble Girl asked.

"I really don't know," Izuku admitted. "It didn't seem to have any goal besides killing when I saw it. But if it's hurt and desperate, then I'd say it's pretty likely unless it somehow finds its way back to whoever has been keeping it under control."

He paused for a second before looking at Sir, who caught his eye. "This is just a theory of mine, but the timing makes me wonder if it could be related to All for One."

Sir's eyes flashed and his gaze narrowed.

"All for One?" Bubble Girl echoed. "You mean that crazy villain All Might fought at the Kamino Ward?"

"That's the one," Nighteye said slowly. "Explain your reasoning."

"Like I said, it's just a theory," Izuku admitted. "But the way it behaved and how…inhuman it was makes me wonder if it was some kind of experiment. It's smarter than a Noumu, sure, but aside from that it seemed single-minded enough to make me assume it had brain damage. It might not have had multiple Quirks, but I could definitely see it as some kind of test subject that he just set loose whenever he wanted. He would have had the resources to hide it and retrieve it easily enough after it killed someone. Plus the timing makes sense. If it was stashed somewhere and he didn't keep up with it, it's possible that it broke loose of whatever hole he was keeping it in and started running around. That might be why it's being so sloppy."

"There's not a lot of evidence for it, but the theory is believable enough," Sir agreed. "We won't draw any conclusions yet—we can put this on the list of possibilities. Since we're aware of its presence, we'll pass on what we've learned to the police and seek it out during our patrols from now on."

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. That will do for now. Centipeder, Bubble Girl, Mirio—get prepared for our patrol. Izuku, stay with me."

Mirio thumped Izuku on the shoulder and followed their co-workers out of the office. As soon as the door had closed behind them, Izuku faced Nighteye again.

The Pro threaded his fingers together and leaned on his hands. "Tsukauchi informed me that you intend to meet with All for One."

Izuku tensed, but Nighteye carried on before he could say anything. "I agree with this course of action. I'll be going with you to Tartarus along with Tsukauchi and All Might."

The teenager blinked. "Really?"

"I think it's necessary for you."

"Why?"

Nighteye regarded Izuku seriously. "All Might's greatest weakness was that he was never able to move past his grudge against All for One and approach his enemy professionally. It's what resulted in him being crippled, in the end. If he had retained control of his emotions, he might not have suffered such a grievous wound.

"This encounter is going to be difficult for you. I do not think you are truly ready. I will not deny that. But if you're going to surpass All Might, you cannot be subject to the same failings he had, few though they were. This is a rare chance for you to develop…shall we say, thicker skin, without needing to worry about you suffering a crippling injury. I want you to try to not let him get to you. Do not let him get into your head, Izuku. Do you understand? If your emotions get the better of you in a battle, you could just as easily be crippled like All Might."

Izuku nodded slowly. "I understand. I don't know if I can do it, but I…I understand."

"You're getting too dreary," Nighteye rebuffed. "Continue to do so and you will be subject to tickle hell."

"Y-yes, Sir!"

"That's a mild improvement."

* * *

Izuku swallowed as he, flanked by All Might, Tsukauchi, and a number of armed guards, entered Tartarus.

The prison was so heavily fortified that it took them an hour just to be cleared to enter the lower confines, where All for One was held. There were no exceptions to that. This was the place where the worst of the worst were kept separate from the rest of humanity.

Once they were finally granted clearance, they were escorted to the lowest level in the complex and brought directly to a surveillance room, where everyone would be watching while Izuku and All for One spoke to each other. Upon their arrival, they were quick to realize that Nighteye had beaten them there.

For several seconds, All Might and Sir Nighteye simply stared at each other before the latter dipped his head.

"All Might."

"Nighteye."

Tsukauchi interjected before they could speak with each other any more. "We're on a time limit here, gentlemen. For now, our duty is to keep an eye on the meeting. Izuku, are you ready? Are you really sure you want to do this?"

Izuku clenched his fists. "Yes."

The detective glanced to the head guard, who nodded shortly. "You'll have ten minutes maximum with him. You read over the rules before coming, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Violating any of those rules will result in you being escorted from the meeting. If you decide you've had enough, just go to the door. We'll be watching."

Izuku nodded once again and looked at All Might, whose mouth quirked up into a grimace of a smile. "We're right here if you need us."

Nighteye adjusted his glasses. "Remember what I told you. Maintain control of yourself. He will no doubt try to get under your skin. Do not give him that."

"Yes, Sir."

The guard led him out of the room then and to the iron gate that would lead to the meeting room. The hallway was lined with armed guards, all ready to intervene if it was deemed necessary.

"Good luck, kid," the guard told him as he pressed a button on the wall that would open the gate. "I'm not sure what you're hoping to gain, but good luck."

He nodded, swallowed, and then stepped inside.

The isolation room was pure white, with a desk and chair in the middle. A thick pane of reinforced glass separated Izuku from the villain on the other side, which he immediately locked onto. He took the man in with a careful gaze while the doors shut behind him.

Automated machine guns were trained on All for One at all times in case he so much as moved a hair out of place. Various tubes were hooked up to his life-support system, probably ready to flood him with drugs at any moment.

Izuku still didn't think it was enough security for a man who could level a city as easily as he breathed.

"Izuku, what a pleasure," All for One's voice was positively purring with satisfaction. "I wasn't sure if you'd accept my invitation. We didn't part on very good terms, did we?"

It was psychological bait and Izuku knew it. He forced away the brief surge of emotion that began to bubble up in him at the mention of their last encounter. He would not let All for One steer this conversation.

He sat down at the desk (which he knew was actually a device designed to monitor his heart rate) and folded his arms one over the other as he regarded the man. His tone became cold. "You've got one minute to convince me to stay here."

"Why did you come if you don't wish to see me?" All for One asked, calm as could be. "Did All Might drag you here?"

"I came because I thought you might tell me something useful about the League," he snapped back, giving the impression that he was irritated with the villain. "But if you decide to play mind games instead, I'll just leave now so we don't waste each other's time."

All for One snorted. "Vindictive, aren't you? Tell me Izuku, do you feel safer now that you are the one in a position of power rather than me? Do you feel stronger? Do you feel like you're in control?"

"No, I don't," he retorted. All for One's grin widened as he continued. "I don't believe this little charade of yours for a second. That's twenty seconds you've used up."

"As cautious as ever, I see," the villain murmured, amused. "Very well, what would you like to know? I'm afraid my knowledge of the League's whereabouts is rather out of date. This topic will hardly be of any interest to discuss, Izuku, no matter what All Might might've told you."

"Then you can tell me why you lied about how many Chimera there are."

"I didn't lie to you. You are my seventh Chimera. I believe I said as much before."

"Lying by omission is still lying," Izuku snapped, feigning distress. He hoped his acting was good enough—he may or may not have been using some of his actual anger to make it believable.

"She's like me, isn't she? That's why you were so keen to have us see each other. You knew I'd figure it out."

All for One fell silent for a moment before he leaned forward just the slightest. The machine guns tracked even that minuscule movement. The villain's smile grew wide with interest. "Now we're getting somewhere. You've met Himiko how many times altogether? Six times? Seven? You figured it out so quickly. Consider me impressed, Izuku."

"You knew I'd be drawn to her, didn't you?"

"I suspected," All for One admitted. "But I knew nothing for sure. You two are a completely unique breed. There is not another creature on the face of the earth quite like you or Himiko."

"Doesn't seem to have stopped you from twisting her so much," Izuku retorted.

"I claimed responsibility for that, you know," the villain replied steadily. "It was my own ignorance that resulted in her condition. If I had learned of her birth earlier, things would have been different."

"Ignorance," Izuku was quiet for a moment before he drove on. "You didn't know about her until she was older. The same as me. Then who was directly responsible for killing her parents?"

"Another of my Chimera," All for One's tone dropped the slightest hint of annoyance. "He assumed he could do what he wished with her without informing me of her existence. When I found out, she was already twisted beyond my control. I didn't think she would be useful for much beyond assassination for the League, so I kept her at arms' reach and simply watched. Then you came along and seemingly figured out how to help her. My thanks for that, Izuku."

Ignoring that last bit, Izuku frowned. "Himiko's mother is still alive, then? You said you created six Chimera, but you never mentioned if any of them died. Either you're concealing her death to keep up appearances, or you're hiding her for some reason."

"Well, who knows?" All for One smirked.

Izuku knew he wouldn't get any more info out of him regarding that topic and moved on. "I suppose you just let whichever Chimera manipulated her go free?"

"Oh no, Izuku," the villain smiled cruelly and the sight made his blood freeze. "He paid _dearly_ for what he did. He is _still_ paying. And he will _continue_ to pay until his usefulness runs its course—that is, until he is granted the mercy of death."

Izuku couldn't repress the shiver going through him and was infinitely grateful that All for One was blind.

"Now, allow me to congratulate you for deducing Himiko's true identity," the villain continued, his voice returning to a purr. "For that, you've earned a prize."

"Which is?"

"Information."

Izuku didn't outright react except for a slight narrowing of his eyes. "What kind of information?"

"The informative kind."

"Stop messing with me."

"Old habits," All for One chuckled.

"Then inform me about this," Izuku muttered, intent on steering the conversation in a direction he wanted. "What do you know about a villain that bites out the hearts of his victims?"

"Ah, Sin Eater," the villain smirked. "He's causing you problems, is he?"

"Sin Eater. He's one of yours?"

"He was some time ago," All for One admitted. "An experimental prototype. A failure—I gave him to one of my followers to use as she pleased. As I understand it, she used his Quirk, Heart Hunter, to hunt down and eliminate villain targets. It gives him the ability to 'echolocate' a human's heartbeat and determine if they are good or evil. He seems to enjoy eating sinful hearts, hence the name."

Izuku grimaced. "Well, that's _nice_."

All for One chuckled. "Tell me Izuku, are you fond of old movies?"

"I was never into horror, no."

"Horror is boring," the villain agreed, smirking. "In my youth, my brother and I grew up watching _Star Wars._ Have you heard of it?"

"It's practically a cultural staple in America," Izuku shrugged. "I've seen the movies. What about them?"

"I happen to enjoy drawing comparisons. All Might made a rather convincing Luke—always so in the light, unshakable in his beliefs. If I might be so bold, you strike me as more of an Anakin."

Izuku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "And just what gives you that idea?"

"Because you, Izuku, like the rest of our family, have the same fatal flaw that Anakin possessed—the fatal flaw that brought us all down a path of blood."

"And that is?"

"You simply _care_ too much."

Izuku opened his mouth to convince All for One that he most certainly did _not_ resemble any of them, but froze when All for One's lips curved up into a dangerous grin. "Your little act is good, Izuku, but not good enough. I've played this game much longer than you. Since we're low on time, let's cut to the chase—the reason I asked you to come see me was to inform you about a certain group of villains."

"Who?"

"Have you ever heard of the Eight Precepts of Death?"

Izuku frowned. "It sounds like one of Fumikage's special moves."

The villain snickered. "The Eight Precepts are a group of Yakuza bent on restoring their organization to its former glory. Their leader, Kai Chisaki, is known as Overhaul in the underworld. Some time ago I became aware of him working on a certain drug designed to erase a person's Quirk. I went to the effort of obtaining a sample of it in order to understand how it worked. To my surprise, I found the drug contained human cells. Though it seems like the unwilling donor was taken from them not long afterwards, I obtained enough of the drug to deduce that the donor's Quirk was what erased the target's."

He paused for a moment and his grin became dangerous. "Or, rather, the donor's Quirk rewound that of the target's to a point before it existed."

It felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. The breath left his lungs. _No_.

"Kai Chisaki's organization is known for their trademark plague masks," All for One went on, his smiling growing ever wider the more he shook Izuku to his core. "His Quirk, Overhaul, lets him deconstruct matter—including living things—and restore them into whatever state he chooses. As I understand it, he drained the donor's blood to the point that they almost died many times over before effectively killing them and then resuscitating them with his Quirk. He did this enough to research and develop an arsenal of biological weapons—"

His words ceased to matter to Izuku as the blood started roaring in his ears. He didn't need to hear the shouts over the intercom to know his body was ablaze in wrathful green fire, didn't need to hear Tsukauchi barge into the room and plead for him to calm down.

All for One was smiling at him serenely. "Like I said, Izuku. You care too much."

He was perfectly calm as he glared at All for One with constrained fury that wasn't directed at the villain. "Thanks for your time."

"My pleasure," All for One purred as Izuku shut his flames down and left the room with his fists balled and his jaw clenched in rage.

Part of him was angry with himself that he'd allowed All for One to get to him in the end, but it was drowned by the cold, vengeful fury he was barely restraining beneath his skin. The name was already burned into his memory.

Kai Chisaki.

The man who had tortured Eri.

* * *

 **A/N: What's this? Another update so soon? What is this witchcraft?**

 **Lol I'm trying to get back into the habit of updating more frequently now that season 4 of the anime is almost upon us, but this chapter comes out today because it's actually Viridescent's second birthday! Crazy to think it's already been up for two years!**

 **This chapter is more transitional than the others, but the next chapter will see the conclusion of this arc and some wild action! Look forward to it!**

 **Shoutout to Akiyamasamalamadingdong for helping me go through this chapter on such short notice!**

 **As ever, please review and thanks for reading!**


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